Roberta Madalene (Brown) Husbands

Date of birth  - May 7, 1929

Date of death  - September 24, 2021

Madalene was born to Truman Doyle and Ethel Louise Brown on May 7, 1929 in Mt. Ayre, Iowa. She had a twin sister, Maxine, and an older brother, Doyle Glee. The family lived there until 1937. Their father was a farmer raising corn, cattle, and whatever was needed to care for a family. In 1936 there were changes in the family due to the separation and divorce of the parents.

In spring of 1937 Truman, the children, and two other families of relations formed a 3 car caravan and moved to Molalla. Madelene remembers the trip over the mountains as she suffered with “motion sickness” during that leg of the journey. Her father worked in Canby at the Flax Plant. The family realized that Molalla was where they wanted to be after trying California for one year.

The children were all in the same grade at Rural Dell School. Being so close in age and in the same grade, they were considered to be triplets by many. Madalene graduated from Molalla Hight School in 1948. Later in life she attended Beauty School. Only 5 months from graduation she left to care for her ailing mother-in-law and father-in-law.

Madalene married Raphael Husbands in 1949. They were married at the Nazarene Church. Raphael drove a logging truck for 35 years. They were in an auto accident in which Raphael sustained severe head trauma. Madalene was his care giver until her own health became a concern. He was a resident at a Nursing home in Woodburn for 2 years prior to his death. They celebrated 54 years of marriage together before Raphael’s death in 2003.

Madalene and Raphael were blessed with two sons: Steven Ray (Pat) who lives in Canby and Edward (Marsha) who lives in Union, Ore. They have four grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren.

After her children started school, she learned to drive which presented many opportunities to pursue interests outside the home. Madalene learned the importance of work early in life. At a young age she worked in harvest of a variety of crops (even picked cotton in Ca.) providing her with money to help purchase clothing and sundry other things.

As an adult, she worked in the food preparation business. She represented companies by demonstrating food in stores. She taught classes in microwave cooking for Amana. She demonstrated both the ease of using the oven and the various cookware pieces that helped achieve the results to make the food even more appealing. Those classes were held in many grocery stores, high schools, and colleges. For 45 years she baked and decorated cakes out of her home, gaining a good reputation not only in this region but beyond. She taught classes in crochet and knitting. She did custom sewing. Although she did not complete beauty school, she was much in demand for barbering, haircuts and perms among relatives and friends. She is a talented artist. Her family has been the recipients of many of her oil paintings – she has also sold some. Madalene worked for Winco Foods as Security Clerk retiring at age 71. On occasions when the Oregon City Police had to be called, they affectionately referred to her as “the bigamist” (A play on her name).

In her spare time she was also active in the community. She served as Chair for the Election Board for 35 years. She was active in Tops and The Historical Society.

Madalene was baptized in the Nazarene Church. She worshiped there for about 20 years. For a number of years she did not attend services during which time she was being a care giver to her father, her in-laws and her husband. During the times when she was exhausted and discouraged, she found comfort in reading the scriptures and in prayer. She began attending the Molalla church about 18 years ago. We are glad to have her in our family.

Written by Anna Crump