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‘A great lady’

Shirley Brown remembered for her compassion, inspiration

-Submitted photo
Shirley Brown, of Fort Dodge, is pictured with her husband, Judge Brown.

Shirley Brown, who prided herself on being a role model for African American youth in Fort Dodge, passed away on Tuesday.

“I try to be there for all the kids and try to make them feel good about themselves,” Brown, who was 76, said in a Messenger story published in February 1997.

Brown held many jobs in her life. She started as a liaison worker with the Fort Dodge Community School District in 1974 and that’s where she met her future, husband, Judge Brown, of Fort Dodge.

“I moved here in 1977 to teach at Senior High. At that time she was working for the school district and I saw this woman and I gravitated and started inquiring about her,” Judge Brown recalled. “She was attractive and she was in a school building I worked in. I ended up asking for a date and she considered it.”

The two were married in 1993.

“She was a great companion,” Judge Brown said. “We could talk about anything.”

Talking to her over a cup of coffee in the morning is just one of the many things Brown said he will miss about her.

“I’ll miss having coffee with her in the morning,” Judge Brown said. “That’s something we did every morning. Sometimes we would sit there in our robes and drink coffee for an hour and a half.”

Judge Brown said his wife was determined and also a bit stubborn at times.

“She worked hard to have whatever she wanted and she was doing that even before I met her,” he said. “And she wouldn’t do anything she didn’t want to. You could talk to her until you were blue in the face and you learned after a while not to go there.”

But she always supported him, Judge Brown said.

“She worked very well with me,” Judge Brown said. “She was always my biggest fan. She was a wonderful, wonderful person. The (three) boys were grown when we started dating and I have a great relationship with all of them. She managed a great household even though she was working all the time.”

Dave Haggard, former FDCSD superintendent, knew and worked with Brown during his 17 years serving the district.

“She was a lady with a tremendous amount of integrity and personality,” Haggard said. “She had high expectations for people, yet a deep understanding for different situations people find themselves in. She was a great communicator. A great link with the students.”

Haggard used the words “invaluable” and “extremely compassionate” to describe her.

Brown quickly became someone Haggard could turn to for insights or advice.

“She was someone whose opinions I valued,” he said. “I trusted her, respected her. It was a long-term relationship and one that stands out in my mind as being one of the critical ones through some of the successes we had.”

Haggard added, “The community lost a great lady.”

Charlene Washington, of Fort Dodge, said anytime she wanted to know how her children were doing in the schools, she could talk to Brown.

“She was very nice,” Washington said. “And whatever job she was doing, she did it well. She was very well-liked.”

Sherry Washington, of Fort Dodge, said Brown was one of the first African Americans to work in the Fort Dodge school system.

“She was pleasant, spoke well, and always dressed nice and neat,” Washington said.

Charles Clayton, executive director of Athletics For Education and Success, said he knew Brown since he was in high school.

“She was a great lady,” Clayton said. “She was a major influence on a lot of African American males and females. Trying to teach kids to do the right thing and be of high character.”

According to Clayton, Brown was an inspiration for him to start AFES, which has benefited hundreds through afterschool programs, sports teams and leagues, mentoring groups, and cultural opportunities.

“When she ran the Ms. Black Fort Dodge pageant and that was one of the things when I started everything with AFES — she was one of the people who inspired me that things like AFES were even possible, because I hadn’t seen a lot of events in Fort Dodge led by African Americans. So that was inspirational for me and she let me know what I could accomplish.”

Gwenda Naylor, a Fort Dodge native, first met Brown in the 1960s.

“Her three boys were good friends of my younger brothers,” Naylor said. “They attended Wahkonsa Elementary School. We lived right off of Central Avenue.”

Naylor said Brown was living next to Logan Hotel, which she said was on Central Avenue at the time.

“She was a young, beautiful and happy woman,” Naylor said. “Very nice and caring.”

Naylor said their lives took different paths in the ensuing years, but the two became closer in the 1990s through their work at Coppin Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

“I was part of the school board at that time,” Naylor said. “She and Judge (Brown), her new husband, they were members at the time, so our lives were reacquainted and we had many different participations in the church, in different committees and community activities. Our friendship grew even more. She took me under her wing, so to speak.”

Naylor recalled that Brown helped with the Meriwether Scholarship committee. H.C. Meriwether was one of the first African Americans to own a business in Fort Dodge.

“I remember her as a very spirited, very caring, loving woman,” Naylor said.

Julia Naylor, who went to bible study classes with Brown, said she was a hard worker.

“I’ve known her a long time and she was a very good worker in the community,” Naylor said. “She was a very, very likeable person.”

In 1993, Brown was a recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award.

She spent time in the Peace Corps, serving in Costa Rica and Guatemala.

Her work history included Trinity Regional Medical Center as a cook, and assistant director of the Webster County Daycare Center. She was also a correctional officer for the Women’s Reformatory in Rockwell City for four years. That prison in now called the North Central Correctional Facility and it houses male inmates.

Brown was involved in the Council of Churches, Mayor’s Youth Committee, the Governor’s Planning Committee for Iowa, YWCA, Fort Dodge/Webster County Human Rights Commission, and Multicultural Non-sexist Advisory Committee within the school system.

In 1995, Brown, along with Fort Dodge City Councilwoman Jane Burleson, participated in the Iowa 75th Anniversary of Women Suffrage March in Des Moines.

In 1996, she developed an organization called Images, which worked with girls in the community on job preparation and education.

Brown was born in Greenville, Mississippi. She moved with her family to Fort Dodge when she was 12. She attended Fort Dodge Senior High and Iowa Central Community College.

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