Doreen (Ballinger) Brown, 70, of Girard, Kan., passed away March 4, 2023, at St. Luke's East Hospital in Lee's Summit, Mo., after several years of illness. She married Johnnie Brown, of Girard, on Aug. 12, 1979, in Fort Scott, Kan. Doreen was born March 23, 1952, to Russell and Genevieve (Close) Ballinger at Vassar Hospital in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Her family lived in an apartment above her grandparents' home overlooking the Hudson River.