Bernice E. Layne Brown (November 19, 1908 – May 9, 2002) was the wife of the 32nd Governor of California Edmund "Pat" Brown and the mother of the 34th and 39th governor of California,

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of ...

. Bernice Layne was born on November 19, 1908, in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, the daughter of Alice (née Cuneo) and Arthur Layne. Future governor Pat Brown had been three years ahead of her in the same high school, and in spite of her parents's misgivings about her youth, Brown was allowed to begin seeing her socially when she was 13. A 1928 graduate of

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, she began a career in teaching, in an era when women teachers were put on a 3-year probation that denied them the right to marry until their 4th year in the profession. Choosing love over a career, Bernice and Pat ran off to

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

and married on October 30, 1930. They had four children: Jerry, Kathleen, Cynthia and Barbara, all born in San Francisco. Bernice Brown became first lady of California after her husband defeated

William Knowland William Fife Knowland (June 26, 1908 – February 23, 1974) was an American politician and newspaper publisher. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from California from 1945 to 1959. He was Senate Majority Le ...

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

. She was known for being a great speaker, and often made references to family life. In

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

, her husband was elected to a second term, defeating

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

. Pat Brown's bid for a third term in 1966 ended in defeat to future U.S President Ronald Reagan. She lived to see her son Jerry serve two terms as governor (1975-1983), and died May 9, 2002, at age 93.

References

1908 births 2002 deaths First Ladies and Gentlemen of California California Democrats Brown family (California) People from Los Angeles 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians {{California-politician-stub