Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 4, 1995 TAG: 9507050086
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Occupation: head custodian for Margaret Beeks Elementary School
Age: 44
Family: divorced; one 15-year-old son, Earl Jr.
Hometown: Williamson, W.Va., "but most of my memorable life was here in Blacksburg."
Last book read: "The Story of John F. Kennedy," by Earl Miers
Favorite pastime: spending his Saturdays spinning tunes as a disc jockey. He's done it for 15 years - long enough to DJ the weddings of former students who used to danced at his sock hops.
Favorite school-age memory: "I would not have gone on to college if I hadn't found out about the Upward Bound program when I was a sophomore at Blacksburg High. That changed everything."
Favorite teacher: "Robert Price, my Industrial Cooperative Training teacher when I was a sophomore and junior in high school."
Best decision ever made: "Staying in the New River Valley."
Favorite quote: "A hundred years from now it will not matter the sort of house I lived in, what my bank account was or the kind of car I drove, but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child."
Earl Brown is trying to start a revolution, and he's beginning with the little people.
Kindergartners, that is.
When the youngest members of Margaret Beeks Elementary sign up for his "May I, Please, Thank you" Club, they pledge to say those kind words as much as possible and hope "that everyone has many nice days."
Brown figures by the time he's ready to retire, the school will be a more polite place to be.
"Manners go a long way with people," he said, taking a break from his summer cleaning duties last week. "If 60 percent of these kids use these words through every year in school, you'll be hearing a lot more of it."
His active participation with the pupils (Brown says he knows most of the approximately 450 students by name) earned him an Outstanding Employee Recognition by Montgomery County Schools this year.
Brown started with the school system in 1991, beginning his duties as night custodian just as the pupils left for home at 2:30 p.m. This is the first year Brown is working during the day and is able to interact with children.
Brown eats lunch with his well-mannered kindergartners and advises the graduating fifth-graders on being a small sixth-grader fish in a larger middle school pond.
"I could be talking to a future judge or doctor. I tell them it's all possible," he said.
A graduate of Ferrum Junior College and East Tennessee State, Brown has spent much of his career working with people. He spent 10 years with Virginia Tech as a training supervisor and with the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services in the job placement program.
Then he worked at the Radford Army Ammunitions Plant for three years, until he was laid off. That turned out to be a blessing, he said, because a few months later he was hired by the school system.
Brown said he's one of the lucky people who wake up every morning excited about going to work.
"My hope for the future is that one day down the road I'll see one of these students and they'll say 'I remember you and thanks for talking to me. You really helped.'"
by CNB