POWELL, Wyo. — Jicki Val Brown, 73, passed into the Kingdom of Heaven on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021.
She was born in Evanston, Wyo., on Oct. 8, 1948, to Charles Burl “Buck”
Pollet and Naomi (Wilson) Pollet. Jicki lived a diverse life and loved adventure. After
graduating from Mountain View High School in 1967, her wandering spirit took
her all over the U.S. before she settled back in Wyoming. She was first married to
Randy Tanner, with whom she delivered into the world her children: Donya, Jason,
Becky and Jerry. She was later married to Don Leeper, and along came her fifth child, Val.
As she raised her five children, Jicki studied English at Northwest College and worked for several years during the 1980’s as the secretary of the Humanities Division at Northwest. Afterward she worked as a legal secretary and also enjoyed bar-tending. She loved spending time with her family and friends.
Jicki possessed a poet’s heart and naturally saw and appreciated beauty in the
world and in the people around her. On April 13, 1999, she married her forever love, Mike Brown, her soulmate.
Her many passions included writing, crocheting, spending time in the Big Horn Mountains, rock hunting and sentimental music, ‘Wildflowers’ by Tom Petty being one of her favorites.
Jicki was preceded in death by her parents, Charles and Naomi Pollet; her siblings:
Wilson Felix, Jerry Felix, Charles “Chuck” Pollet; her father-in-law, William “Bill”
Brown; and her son, Jerry Brionne Tanner, who died from complications of Alpha-1
Antitrypsin Deficiency in 1998, just a week after his 21st birthday. Other beloved
members of her family are also afflicted with this condition.
She is survived and deeply missed by her husband, Michael Brown of Powell; sister and brother-inlaw, Christy and John Petrich of Byron; sister-in-law, Flo Felix; daughter, Donya Tanner of Boise; son and daughter-in-law, Jason and Joanne Tanner of Gillette; daughters: Becky Tanner of Powell and Val Leeper of Cody; mothers-in-law:Marilee Tolman and Lois Brown; sisters and brothers-in-law Carrie and Dustin
Hamilton, James and Mary Brown, Racille Brown, Frank Heinrich; and many
grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
A family gathering and internment will be held at the Byron Cemetery on
Nov. 27, 2021, at 1:30 p.m. An open reception will be held afterwards at the
Elks Lodge in Powell. In lieu of flowers, the family requests friends and loved
ones to please consider donating to the Alpha-1 Foundation at alpha1.org.
