The Life, Times & Family of Orson Pratt Brown

Anna Skousen Brown Petrie Encke

Born: September 26, 1905 in Colonia Morelos, Sonora, Mexico
Died: January 27, 2001 in her home in Tempe, Arizona

Compiled by Lucy Brown Archer

Anna Brown was born as the second child on September 26, 1905 in Colonia Morelos, Sonora, Mexico to Orson Pratt Brown and Eliza Skousen Brown. Eliza was Orson's fourth plural wife. They were married on the 2nd of September 1902 in Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Eliza was the daughter of James Jens Niels Skousen and Anna Hansen.

Anna siblings were Gwendolyn Skousen Brown, Otis Pratt Brown, Orson Erastus Brown, Francisco Madero Brown, and Elizabeth Skousen Brown.

Ann lived in the Mormon Colonies in Mexico until she was 7 years old; the Mexican Revolution forced the Mormon colonists out of their homes and land in July 1912.

For the rest of her life, Ann remembered the thunder of hoof beats and the rattling of sabers as the guerrilla army rode past the terrified colonists. (See Strained Relations)

Anna Skousen Brown Petrie Encke 1905-2001

"Long, productive life shows woman of many talents"

Anna Encke on Kool-TV

In the early days of television, Ann Encke appeared daily on Valley station KOOL-TV as the hostess of Recipe Round-up.

"She was like the Julia Child of the desert," said her son, Steven Petrie of Tempe.

Between the afternoon movies of "Ladies Matinee," hosted by Wally Imes, Encke demonstrated the cooking techniques that led to her success in the restaurant business.

Anna Brown Encke, the dynamic restaurateur and co-developer of the Rosarita Mexican Food Co., died Jan. 27, 2001 of natural causes. The longtime Valley resident was 95.

Encke was born in a small Mormon community in Sonora, Mexico. She was a child when Pancho Villa's revolutionaries swept through the area, forcing all non-Mexican settlers to leave. For the rest of her life, Encke remembered the thunder of hoof beats and the rattling of sabers as the guerrilla army rode past the terrified village children.

Forced to leave nearly all their belongings at the border, the family arrived destitute in El Paso. After a couple of years, they made their way to southern Utah.

After graduating from Millard Academy in Hinckley in 1924, Encke moved to Salt Lake City to work at Western Union, where she typed and delivered telegrams, sometimes on roller skates, to earn college money. But after two years at the University of Utah, her money ran out and she returned to Western Union.

In the 1930s, Encke moved to Iowa and took a job with a local department store. She traveled from town to town in eastern Iowa and western Illinois, setting up fashion shows to sell clothes and furs.

In 1939 she met traveling salesman Alexander "Lex" P. Petrie, whom she married February 4, 1941. They had one son, Steven Lex Petrie born on January 5,1942.

When her mother, Eliza Skousen, who was running Brownie's Steak House in Mesa, fell ill, Encke and her new husband moved to Arizona to help run the business.

Cinderella Foods by Ann Encke on Ladies Matinee Channel 10 ad

But Lex was unhappy in the Valley and, after their divorce in 1942, returned to the Midwest.

In the mid-1940s, Encke opened Rosita's Mexican restaurant on South Macdonald Street in Mesa. About the same time, she and R.G. Scarborough, a former pilot instructor at Williams Field, teamed with Mesa sign painter Pedro "Pete" Guerrero, to form Rosita's Mexican Food Co. Later the name became Rosarita's.

The company started small, making tortillas, tamales and refried beans in the back of the restaurant to sell to local grocery stores. The business quickly outgrew the restaurant and moved to its own quarters.In 1949 she married Martin Encke and changed the name of the steakhouse to Encke's.For years Encke catered the annual policeman's ball in Mesa and sponsored city league baseball teams for kids. Petrie remembers that all the kids wanted to be on his mom's team because she took them out for ice cream after every game.

With so many other irons in the fire, Encke sold her share of Rosarita's in the early 1950s, before the company went public. In 1958 she moved to Show Low and, with a partner, built and operated the Malapai Inn on U.S. 60. Knowing what it was like to be destitute, Encke often fed transients who happened by.

As in Mesa, she immersed herself in civic activities. Seeing the community didn't have a hospital, the tireless and persuasive Encke soon had folks lined up to donate materials or money or labor, sometimes all three.

She even hit up Barry Goldwater at his family's Pinetop cabin, letting him know the area's need and hinting broadly that the hospital, as yet, had no name. In 1960, the Josephine Goldwater Memorial Hospital, a 12-bed facility named after Goldwater's mother, one of the first registered nurses in Arizona, opened.

Ann Encke Show Low's Woman of the Year in 1963

For her exemplary civic-mindedness, Encke was named Show Low's Woman of the Year in 1963.

Despite her whole-hearted efforts, the Malapai Inn was never a financial success and Encke sold it and returned to the Valley. About the same time, she and Martin divorced and she sold Encke's Steak House.

A skilled seamstress, she went to work at Dodyann's Custom Made Fashions in Scottsdale. Then, at the age of 62, she obtained her real estate license. After a decade in California, Encke moved to Tempe in 1982 and went to work at Robinson's Department Store in Fiesta Mall, selling clothes in the men's department.

"I don't think they're allowed to ask me how old I am," she told her son, "and I'm not about to tell them."

She retired in 1990, at the age of 85.

Encke is survived by her son, Steven Petrie, and his wife Carol Anne Langford Petrie, of Tempe; grandchildren Craig Petrie of Cary, Ill., Ryan Petrie of Chandler, Matthew Petrie of Tempe, Cynthia Gilbert of Temecula, Calif., Jennifer Watkins of Gilbert, and Laura Archibald of Salt Lake City; and 12 great-grandchildren.

Anna Skousen Brown Petrie Encke

1905 - 2001

Ann Encke 95 years old, of died January 27, 2001 in her Tempe home. Born September 26, 1905 in Colonia Morelos, Sonora, Mexico, she was the daughter of Orson Pratt Brown and Eliza Skousen. She was the founder of Cinderella Foods, and Rosarita Mexican Foods and owned restaurants in Mesa and Show Low, Arizona. In the early days of television in Phoenix, she was the host of the first live cooking show in the valley on Channel 10 as part of the program "Ladies Matinee' with Wally Imes. In Show Low, she was the charter President of the Emblem Club, the Elks Club women's auxiliary, and later became President of the State organization. While living in Show Low, she was the recipient of the first Woman of the Year award from the Chamber of Commerce for her pivotal role in raising funds to build the first hospital in Show Low, the Josephene Goldwater Memorial Hospital.

Anna is survived by her son, Steven L. Petrie and daughter-in-law Carol Anne Langford Petrie; 6 grandchildren, Craig, Ryan and Matthew Petrie, Cynthia Gilbert, Jennifer Watkins, and Laura Archibald; and 12 great-grandchildren. Services Wednesday, January 31, at 10:00 a.m. at the Corona Stake Center of the LDS Church, 1111 E. Knox Road, Tempe, Arizona, with visitation one hour prior to services.

Anna Skousen Brown Petrie Encke

"Long, productive life shows woman of many talents"

"A Life Remembered"

ORSON PRATT BROWN FAMILY UPDATES

ORSON PRATT BROWN 1863-1946

ORSON'S JOURNALS AND BIOGRAPHIES

ORSON PRATT BROWN'S PARENTS
- Captain James Brown 1801-1863

- Phebe Abbott Brown Fife 1831-1915

- Colonel William Nicol Fife - Stepfather 1831-1915

ORSON'S GRANDPARENTS

ORSON PRATT BROWN'S 5 WIVES

ORSON PRATT BROWN'S 35 CHILDREN

ORSON'S SIBLINGS from MOTHER PHEBE

ORSON'S 28 SIBLINGS from JAMES BROWN

ORSON'S 17 SIBLINGS from STEPFATHER FIFE

ORSON PRATT BROWN'S IN-LAWS

INDEX OF MORMON COLONIES IN MEXICO

INDEX OF MORMON MEXICAN MISSION

INDEX TO POLYGAMY IN UTAH, ARIZONA, MEXICO

INDEX TO MEX. REVOLUTION & THE MORMON EXODUS

INDEX OF SURNAMES

MAPS OF THE MEXICAN COLONIES

BROWN FAMILY MAYFLOWER CONNECTION 1620

BROWN's in AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1775-1783

BROWN's in AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 1861-1865

BROWN's in WARS AFTER 1865

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