Dorothy Jean Brody

Jean Brody (née Dorothy Jean Lindsey) passed away peacefully at home on April 23rd, 2025, hours before the birthday of her beloved husband, Jerry. She dedicated her life to her family, recording rock art across New Mexico, and tending to her massive collection of cacti and succulents. She will always be remembered for her kindness, her intelligence and curiosity, and her radiant smile.

Jean was born in Minneapolis, May 19th, 1928, to Thera and Howard Lindsey. She was the youngest of three siblings, after her sister, Ellen and her brother, Howard. Jean attended Rockford College, an all-women's college in Illinois, where she excelled academically, but also fenced and filled notebooks with poetry worthy of the Beatniks. After completing her degree she moved to Pueblo, Colorado to be near her sister Ellen, then decided to take on the academic discipline that would become her passion by pursuing a master's degree in anthropology at UNM.

It was at UNM that she met the man who would become her husband of 68 years, Jerry Brody. The two met on a six-week long archaeological dig working on a pithouse over the summer. Nicknamed "Red," Jean was known as a fiery, independent redhead who knew how to use a shovel. Jerry was immediately smitten. The couple married at the courthouse in 1956. It was the beginning of a lifelong partnership and friendship that involved lots of laughter, adventure, travel, work, learning, and raising their family together.

Jean and Jerry moved to New Orleans when Jerry found a job as curator at an art museum. There they had two sons, Jefferson and Jonathan. However, New Orleans was too soggy for them, and they escaped as quickly as they could. Luckily, Jerry was offered a job working for the Museum of New Mexico, and they were soon on their way to Santa Fe. When they crossed the border into New Mexico on the drive back from New Orleans, they opened the car door, breathed in the desert air, and knew that this was their forever home. Soon after their return, their daughter Allison was born. After a few years in Santa Fe, Jerry was appointed director of the Maxwell Museum at UNM and the family moved to Albuquerque.

Not only an amazing mother, Jean was also a gifted educator. As her children grew older, Jean began volunteering at the Maxwell Museum, where she curated innovative educational trunks that she and her fellow docents took to public schools throughout the city.

Working together with Jerry and others, Jean helped create rock art classification systems and documented rock art sites throughout the Southwest. Anyone who had the experience of going with them on rock art recording missions knows how incredible it was to watch Jerry and Jean working together. They were both passionate about rock art and its scholarship.

Jean and Jerry were pillars of the Southwest Institute, and both served as instructors with the institute - Jerry on archeology and art, Jean on indigenous foods. When the Southwest Institute decided they needed an ethnobotanist, Jean stepped up and became a self-taught expert in the field. She was incredibly intelligent - an autodidact, she would collect the plants, examine them, easily learn their latin names, and go into the texts and put them in their socioeconomic context. Jean and Jerry went on many trips with the Southwest Institute for over a decade, going into the field to research, lecture, teach and document their knowledge.

Jean was extremely active and energetic, constantly doing and learning. Her office/studio was filled with evidence of her creativity, passions, interests, and hobbies: a pottery kiln, microscopes for examining grasses, and boxes and boxes of her extensive and careful notes on anything under the sun that interested her. On top of everything, she was also a gifted artist - evidenced by the beautifully delicate miniature kachinas she made for the museum gift shop and the fully functional Mayan calendar replicas she devised herself. She loved classical music and sang in the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra Chorus - her family particularly remembers Beethoven's 9th and Verdi's Requiem. She used to play classical music while she was cooking and we all remember her singing in the kitchen.

Jean received her first cactus as a gift from her daughter Allison, and this soon snowballed into one of her great passions. She prioritized her amazing greenhouse when she and Jerry built their house in San Pedro, and she amassed a collection of cacti and succulents from four continents. No one can say for sure how many specimens were in her collection, but when it was time to water them, she recruited any family members who were around and it felt like there were several million. She was a long-time member and president of the Cactus and Succulent Society. Every year, she displayed her best plants at the State Fair. Her hands were seemingly impervious to cactus spines and always full of glochids.

Jean was so adventurous. She and Jerry travelled extensively well into their eighties, and the adventures they had together included whitewater rafting, a cycling trip across France, exploring the pyramids of Egypt, and family trips in Romania and South Africa. Their interest in Mayan archeology led them to many repeated trips to Mexico. They loved hiking and backpacking, and their kids remember their adventurous camping trips with makeshift supplies. She was well into her seventies when she broke her knee after slipping off a cliff while out on a rock art expedition.

Family was incredibly important to Jean and as with everything else, she backed this passion up with science, keeping extensive files on studies about nutrition, child rearing, and stable home environments. The most important part of her identity was being a mother, creating a family, and filling it with love. She built a home and she was a home - she was the magnetic core of our family. Her house was a welcoming, warm place for all comers. She was a generous and gracious hostess and often welcomed her children's and grandchildren's friends with no notice. Years after the death of their beloved Corndog, she kept her cupboard of dog treats well stocked for any canine visitors.

She and Jerry moved to Sandia Park from Albuquerque in 1988 to get away from the pollution and noise of the big city. They built their dream home in a sparsely-populated neighborhood with lots of space and fresh air. A pillar of their neighborhood association, Jean was a huge part of creating a sense of community in a remote area where community can't be taken for granted. She hosted and organized rotating neighborhood Sunday night gatherings which soon became a community tradition.

Anyone who dropped by her home around 4pm would be treated to cocktail hour, which happened every day no matter what and was a time to sit on the back porch with a drink and some snacks and catch up with each other. It seems likely that her daily dram of tequila contributed to her long life.

Jean was an amazing self-taught cook. She approached cooking with the same scientific rigor and curiosity that she brought to everything else. Her Recipe Book was a set of 3-ring binders filled with recipes in her tiny (some might say incomprehensible) handwriting, which she had collected, tested, and adjusted through carefully-documented trial and error. Every child in the family was sent off to college with a copy of the Recipe Book. She taught every single one of her children and grandchildren to cook - everyone in the family has a memory of her plopping them on the counter and teaching them how to properly chop mushrooms. A highlight of everyone's year was the bespoke birthday cakes, including ones that were literally dreamed up. Her kids remember that coming home from school on Fresh Bread Day was heaven. Jean's kitchen was the heart of her home and her home was the heart of her family. Her grandchildren remember waking up early to sit in the kitchen with her as she made breakfast, talking about anthropology.

Jean's grandchildren remember that she was always interested in what they had to say. It was easy to talk about anything with Grammy - she was entirely present, intrigued with whatever was going on in your life, and never patronizing, even if she disagreed or knew way more about a topic about you. Nothing was mundane for her. Conversations could go on for days - she never forgot what you told her. She was incredibly empathetic, kind, and a good listener. She was amazing at expressing gratitude. One of the things we heard most often in her final days was "thank you" and "I am so lucky."

Jean was a devoted and affectionate wife, deeply in love with Jerry until the very end. When visiting them in their retirement home you could usually find them on the couch holding hands, reading companionably or reminiscing. Jean was devastated when Jerry died in 2024, and she passed away hours before his birthday and the day before the Jewish anniversary of his death.

Jean is survived by her three children, Jefferson Lindsey Brody, Jonathan Edward Brody, and Allison Janet Brody; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Jean/Mom/Grammy/Grandma/Great-Grammy was an incredible woman and she meant so much to so many. May her memory be a blessing.

Jean's burial will take place at Hyer Cemetery on Simmons Road off of Highway 344 at 2pm on Sunday April 27, followed by a reception at their former San Pedro residence. For details please contact theabrody@gmail.com or 571-337-9412.