Page 81 - Senior Link Magazine Spring 2024 - Online Magazine

Army

and faster. As a teacher, he would group
students in ways that would encourage them to
develop friendships and thrive.

In October 2018, Dell and his brother, Tom, were
both honored to attend the South Plains Honor
Flight to Washington D.C. Dell still serves on
the Plainview Cemetery Board where he helped
secure flag poles and flags to honor veterans.
Even at 90, he continues to find ways to respect
his fellow humans.
Most all who walked the halls of Mr. Brown’s
schools found a man who genuinely cared about
his students, staff, and parents. He did not
become a conventional banker like his dad had
Mr. and Mrs. Brown returned to Plainview where hoped, but he chose to invest in something more
they were employed by Plainview ISD for nearly four precious than money. Dell Brown has made a career
decades. Patricia taught High School English, then of being a lifelong lover of people who continues to
later became the High School Guidance Counselor. encourage others and treat everyone as a friend.
Dell became Mr. Brown to students at Hillcrest
Elementary in 1960, later principal at Lamar, back
to Hillcrest in 1968, and then Ash Elementary
from 1975 until he sort-of retired in 1991. When
the district set up an alternative school, he taught
for two more years. He also taught student
teachers at Wayland University, Sadly, after
almost 65 years of marriage and mothering the
couple’s two children, Kassandra and Kelly,
Patricia died in April 2018.

His acknowledgement of being a less-than-stellar
academic high school student himself helped
Mr. Brown to recognize signs in the students
he taught. He knew how to encourage and
motivate students, even the tough disciplinary
and academically struggling ones, and he
encouraged his teachers to do the same. He used
a Toastmasters’ discipline of speaking on a subject
for three minutes, encouraging students to speak
on a subject for one minute until they became
confident. Instead of having teachers spending
excess time on written evaluations, he encouraged
them to read their students’ body language to
see if they were “getting it.” He wouldn’t allow
teachers to take work home, encouraging them Serving the Lubbock
to invest that time with their families. He taught community since 1950.
them to be concise, to use a “jig” to check answers We pride ourselves in making our home and surrounding
whenever possible, and to do their work better communities a more beautiful and functional place to live.
tomstreeplace.com | 806.799.3677 | 5104 34th Street

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