Family Portrait: Roger, Jenny, Marilyn, Charlie, Mickey, Sydney and Petey 

click to enlarge

• Sam Simon
• Roger and Jenny Brown with kids (from left to right) Charlie, 7, Petey, 1, Sydney, 5, and Mickey, 5, and Roger's mom, Marilyn Cochran Brown, at their home in Richmond

We met up with the Browns at their home as they were returning from a day at Cochran's Ski Area, the Richmond ski center founded by Roger's grandparents, Mickey and Ginny Cochran. Everyone's cheeks were still red, but when it was time to take photos, Jenny and Roger suggested some action shots. To our surprise, the kids were back in their gear and skiing down the front yard hill almost before we could get our boots on!

Kids VT: Roger, your grandparents started Cochran's in 1961, and your mom, Marilyn, and her siblings competed in the Olympics! Marilyn was the first American to win an Alpine Skiing World Cup title. Did you learn to ski at Cochran's?

Roger: Well, we actually lived in Switzerland when I was young, until I was about 7, so I learned there. But after that, there was a lot of time at Cochran's.

KVT: Jenny, were you a skier before you met Roger?

Jenny: I was a swimmer! I grew up in Kansas. I spent a few years in Colorado, though, so I did ski some.

KVT: How did you two meet?

Jenny: We met on Camel's Hump. Roger proposed there a few months later, and we got married on skis at Cochran's! Roger and I had a bet when Charlie was a baby whether he would ski or swim unassisted first. I thought for sure I'd win but ... I lost!

KVT: Obviously you all ski a lot. Do you spend a lot of time at Cochran's now as a family?

Roger: Yeah, it's just what we do. So many people have learned to ski there — cousins, friends, neighbors. The kids take the bus right there after school to ski. And we love that on the weekends we can just drive there, open the car doors and off they go.