Hats off to Smith, who never let dreams go

Published 6:00 am Thursday, December 30, 2004

During my end-of-the-year musings concerning the events andhighlights of the rapidly outgoing year, my thoughts settled uponone very warm day last summer; July, I believe it was.

In the weeks and months leading up to the 75th reunion ofAlexander High School, The DAILY LEADER had been printing a seriesof old photographs of events that took place at the school over theyears. One of these photos pictured the 1931 graduating class fromthe Lincoln County School for Colored Children. One familiar facejumped out at me: the same pretty face, the happy, engaging smile,it had to be. And there it was in the caption under the picture…”Front Row left to right Alice Brown,”… Alice Brown had beenemployed in our home as a nurse maid when we were small children. Iremember thinking that I must ask my sister Phyllis if she saw thephoto and had the same reaction. I know the road to hell is pavedwith good intentions; nevertheless, I failed to follow up until theday the crowd was gathering for the reunion. The schedule of eventsin the paper foretold that Dr. Alice Brown Smith would be afeatured speaker!

It was Friday night. I called Phyllis and told her my findingsand didn’t she think we should try to locate Alice and arrange tosee her? Phyllis was on the horn at 8 a.m. Saturday and indeedfound Alice and her daughter at the Hampton Inn and invited them tocome to tea that afternoon. After learning that Alice was diabeticand in a wheelchair, it was decided to have the tea party at myhouse, as we have a ramp for easy access.

Subscribe to our free email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

I spent the morning making an assortment of tea sandwiches andarranged some fresh fruit on the tray, which we served with DietCoke after greeting Alice with hugs of joy to see her after so manyyears, as well as delight in meeting her charming daughter, alsonamed Phyllis. I found Alice Brown’s story to be amazing.

Alice started with the picture of her graduating class. All welland good, except the school had only ten grades and Alice wanted togo to college. She would have to find a way to study for two moreyears of high school. Her parents sent Alice to Meridian to livewith relatives so she could attend the School for Colored Childrenthere which offered the full twelve grades.

After the 11th grade, Alice went home for the summer. Hermother’s dear friend who lived in New Orleans, La., was visitingand suggested that Alice stay with her and finish her final year ofhigh school in New Orleans. It was a much easier commute to NewOrleans via the Illinois Central Railroad than to Meridian byautomobile, so Alice would be able to go home for holidays. And soit was that Alice Brown boarded Illinois Central #3 with her mama’sfriend and received her high school diploma from a New Orleanspublic school.

Alice was determined to go to college, but she needed to earnsome money for her expenses. Enter the Johnson family. Alice had afriend who was employed as a nurse maid for my baby sister Jere,and she told Alice that now that school was out Mrs. Johnson neededa nurse for the two older girls, just for the summer. It was aperfect fit. Alice herself called us “her summer job.”

I turned 6 and Phyllis 9 that summer. Not only was she older,but Phyllis was an easy, obedient child. I, on the other hand, was”a challenge,” shall we say? I surely was the reason Mama neededthe extra nurse! Phyllis and I both remember Alice reading to usand playing the piano. Her very presence was a soothing, comfortinginfluence. I am sure she pressed our dresses and polished ourshoes, tied ribbons in our hair and scrubbed me up after I made mudpies. Alice amazingly remembered most of our friends and neighborsand our relatives all by name even after these many years. I expecta lot of her memory of such details can be attributed to the factthat Alice Brown continued to subscribe to “The LEADER” and does soeven now.

Dr. Alice Brown Smith, now widowed, lives in Grambling, La. Shehas retired from a very successful career in the field ofeducation, both in teaching and administration. She continued hereducation, earning numerous honors as well as degrees. Alice hastraveled extensively, often as a convention delegate to variousorganizations (professional, religious or social) to which shebelonged. At present she has cut the conventions most years to two- one professional and homecoming at her church in Brookhaven.

This phenomenal woman should be an inspiration to all of us aswell as a role model. Before she left us, she said that there is nolonger any excuse for anyone not to get an education “with CopiahLincoln Community College just up the road and Jackson StateUniversity just beyond that in Jackson plus access to all the otherstate schools.”

My hat goes off to Alice Brown Smith and to her devoted daughterPhyllis, who left her job in Princeton, N.J., to care for hermother. I shall make my toast to them on New Year’s Day andcontinue to remember both in my thoughts and prayers.

P.S. to Alice: I hope I got it right as I know you’ll be readingit in The DAILY LEADER!