Obituary: Anne Marie Daly Brown, 83, Longtime Darien Resident

The following obituary of Ann Marie Daly Brown, 83, is from her family:

It is with the greatest sadness that we announce the passing of our mom on April 2nd, 2020, at Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend, VT.

Anne Marie Daly Brown was Born July 8, 1936, in Stamford CT. She was a graduate of Sacred Heart
Academy high school and Southern Connecticut State College. She raised four boys with her husband, Tom Brown, in Darien, CT. Her career was centered around her love for food – both cooking it and teaching others. She was one of the earliest female entrepreneurs, running a catering company with three friends called Phantom Cooks – which was later the inspiration for a series of mystery books. (We like to think Phantom Cooks paved the way for Martha Stewart.) From there, she owned Bakers Source and Naturally in Darien, was the director of The Complete Kitchen cooking school, and spent several years as the official test kitchen for People Magazine, which published recipes from celebrity-owned restaurants.

Along with cooking, she loved to sew and make all kinds of crafts, and she was forever collecting scraps that would later become a beautiful pillow or blanket or basket or whatever inspired her.

Anne was predeceased by her husband Tom a year ago. She is loved and survived by her four sons, Michael, Daniel, Stephen, and Matthew; her sister Patricia Urell; Matthew’s partner, Ray Durand; and six grandchildren: Connor, Riley, Nicholas, Michael Jr., Margaret, and Courtney Brown.

Anne loved her family very much, and she was one of the strongest women one could ever know. She backpacked the Long Trail of Vermont with her family, end to end, from Massachusetts to the Canadian border. Anne and Tom took her four boys on numerous epic camping adventures all over the United States and Canada in their 1969 Volkswagen Westfalia camper. They also camped all over Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Anne loved her Irish Wolfhounds, including her most recent one, Maeve, and her golden yellow cat Phin.

A memorial service will take place later in the year when we can all travel again. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you make a donation in Anne’s name to Grace Cottage Hospital. https://gracecottage.org/ or the Grafton Fire and Rescue squad. https://graftonvt.org/?page_id=146