Jean Brown Talley

Jean Brown Talley, 95, a native of Roanoke, Va., passed on to her new life on Tuesday, March 3, 2026.

She surrendered her earthly love and departed to be with all she loved. She was a sweet soul, who laughed easily. She was easy to talk to and easy to love.

She graduated from Andrew Lewis High School and then later from the Stuart Circle School of Nursing at JMU. She was happily married to her best friend, Bernard Talley, for 62 years. She described their favorite activities as camping, dancing, volunteering, and spending time with their children and grandchildren. In her words, she described their successful marriage "took a commitment of ideas and then came up with agreements. We took turns agreeing and disagreeing."

In her early years, she was in the Junior Women's Club and was selected to be a National Tobacco Festival representative and they attended the Tobacco Festival Balls for a number of years. They loved to dance and dress up. Besides ballroom dancing, they even square danced!

Volunteering and service work was a significant part of their lives; they often volunteered together at the same organization.

She was trained as an RN and worked several years as a surgical nurse at RMH and later in her career worked at CCHS and Wytheville Community College teaching Nurse Aid classes.

She was a longtime church member in the Second Presbyterian Church in Roanoke, and the Hillsville Presbyterian Church.

In addition to her husband, she was also predeceased by her parents, Zanella and Ralph Brown.

Her surviving family includes her children, Martha Yates (Jim), Bob (Nickie), and William (Aura); grandchildren, Justin Stoneman (Erika), Allison Miles (Marshall), Paul Talley, DeeDee Holderfield (Wes), Chelsey Sgontz (Chris), and Alexander Talley.

A graveside service will be conducted at 12 Noon on Friday, March 6, 2026, at Fair View Cemetery in Roanoke, Va., with Chaplain Ryan Cecil officiating. A celebration reception will follow at 1 p.m. at the Historic Fishburn Mansion, also in Roanoke.

Online condolences may be expressed at www.johnmoakey.com.