Ferneth Brown Courtright passed away on May 24, 2022 at the age of 87. She was born September 2, 1934 in Virden, New Mexico, to Floyd and Elmina Brown, the sixth of eight children. The family lived and farmed in Virden and Kirtland, New Mexico. The family lost two siblings as children, then her mother died in 1946 and father in 1948. This left the remaining six children orphans, taken in by aunts and uncles, forever shaping their character and faithfulness. Ferneth was voted Queen of the Prom her Junior year at Virden School. She excelled in school, played the piano, sang, directed plays, and was a prolific writer of poetry and fiction.

A lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she attended Brigham Young University, graduating in 1957, then moved to the Los Angeles area where she attended the Wilshire LDS Singles Ward and worked in the drama department of a private school, then later as Personnel Director and the assistant to the president of Computer Equipment Corp.

Ferneth met a LA-native named Ivan Courtright in January of 1962, an Army veteran, sales manager for Scientific Instruments, and graduate student at USC. He converted to the church and was baptized that summer. They were married at the LDS Institute, USC campus, in Los Angeles on February 2, 1963, then sealed in the Mesa Arizona Temple on July 5, 1963.

After spending their first few married years in Sherman Oaks, they moved to northern California in 1968, settling in the Los Altos / Mountain View communities, where they raised their four children over the next 25 years. Ferneth then worked as an executive assistant for IBM Research in Palo Alto. They loved vacationing in Monterey and hiking the mountain trails of Yosemite Valley. In 1994, they headed south for new opportunities in Anaheim Hills, where Ferneth enjoyed teaching writing courses at Loma Linda Community College. While there she survived breast cancer. Ferneth and Ivan retired to St. George, Utah, in 2013.

Ferneth is survived by her husband of 59 years, Ivan Courtright; her children: Camela Courtright, Luke (Bruce) Rainey, and Candra Anaya; three grandchildren; her oldest brother, Dewaine (Judy) Brown; her sister, Rita (Keith) Nielson; and dozens of nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her daughter, Charlene Courtright (Mike) Summers (2009); her siblings Ileane Brown (1937), Dewitt Brown (1931), Steven (Glenna) Brown (2019), Colleen Brown (Merrill) Burt (1999), and Cameron (Donna) Brown (2013); and her parents, Floyd (1948) and Elmina (1946) Brown.

Ferneth's life will be celebrated with a small, private family gathering.