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Jennifer passed away peacefully at home with her family by her side and her two cats, Venus and Serena, at her feet on December 2, 2025 after a courageous battle with ALS. She was a founding mother of Vox Feminae, the a cappella singing group in Grinnell whose name - "the voice of woman" - she selected. The group gave her and her family great comfort in her final days, with a steady stream of singers serenading her. Jennifer was known for planning and performing in many Collegium Music concerts. She found solace in being able to plan her memorial concert, which will take place on Saturday, April 18, 2026 at 3 pm at Sebring-Lewis Hall in the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts on the Grinnell College Campus , with a reception to follow in the rotunda.

Born in 1957 in Cleveland, Ohio, she was the daughter of Dorothy Ellen Watt Williams, a professional writer and editor, and Wendell Sterling Williams, a physics professor. Jennifer graduated from University High School in Urbana, Illinois in 1974, then received a B.A. in Musicology from the University of Illinois in 1978. While studying abroad at University of London, Kings College, she met her future husband, Matthew Gordon Brown. They attended graduate school together at Cornell University, where she graduated with her Ph.D. in Musicology in 1992.

Jennifer's career in musicology included teaching at the University of Rochester and Louisiana State University, where she first earned tenure. In 2005, when her and Matthew's lives took different directions, she made a new start for herself at Grinnell College, where she found her personal and professional home. For twenty years, Jennifer was a beloved member of the college community as a teacher, mentor and colleague. She received many accolades in the course of her career, including grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Delmas Foundation. Even as her health declined in the last few years, she was awarded Senior Faculty Status at Commencement this past May where hundreds of Grinnellians rose to their feet in a standing ovation. Although ALS had taken her voice, Jennifer presented, with a colleague's assistance, her final paper, "This Old Opera: Francesco Cavalli's House on the Grand Canal" for the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music Conference at Princeton University in 2024, where she was also honored with a standing ovation.

As Dean Feingold pointed out in her announcement of Jennifer's passing, she was "the epitome of the Renaissance woman, whose teaching interests and talents ranged from music history to musical performance, and from classical ballet to historical forms of dance…She also was active as a mentor and consultant and coach for both student and professional opera companies nationally, including Simpson College and Haymarket Opera…In 2008, her edition of Francesco Cavalli's opera La Calisto (A-R Editions, 2007) won the Claude V. Palisca Award given by the American Musicological Society for the best scholarly edition or translation in the field of musicology. That edition has had performances around the world… In 2013, she was selected as Grinnell's Frank and Roberta Furbush Faculty Scholar."

Aside from her academic life, Jennifer loved cats, reading, cooking, traveling, watching PBS and listening to NPR. As an aficionado of historical architecture, Jennifer spent her final years renovating her home on Fourth Avenue. The house was a passion project for her and restoring it to its historical origins brought her much joy.

Jennifer's benevolent personality and loyal friendships with the people in her life were reciprocated with dedication and love in return. Those who went above and beyond to help ease her burdens and share her journey until her end, include Nick Darland, Kelly Maynard, Jennifer's brother-in-law, Chris Matheos, along with her loving sister, Laura Williams. We will all miss her greatly and for the rest of our lives. Her spirit lives on through music and through her students, of whom she was very proud.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be directed to the ALS Association of Iowa or Planned Parenthood and mailed in care of the Smith Funeral Home and Crematory, PO Box 368, Grinnell, IA 50112.