With a charismatic charm, a belly full of laughter, an open heart and a personality to match, one woman in Bryant plans to feed all the city’s police and firefighters this Christmas.
Even with only nine years remaining before she hits 100, Hildreth Brown still takes care of those that watch out for her, which is the reason she is taking 90 half hams to the Bryant police and fire departments today.
“I always try to do something for them,” Brown said. “I appreciate what they do for me, and they know my door is always open to them. They always keep an eye on this place, they stop and see me, and they put their life on the line everyday. So I wanted to give something back.”
Though tragedy struck her immediate family over the past year or so, with the loss of her husband, Gordon, and son, Gary, Hildreth Brown continues her days with a positive outlook on life. But she admits this Christmas is not only a sad time, she is also hesitant to join in any festivities.
“I just don’t really want to have a Christmas this year,” she said. “I have been invited by other family members to join them, but it really isn’t a happy time for me right now. But that is the way it is at my age, losing people around me, but I just keep on going.”
And just when the tears begin to surface, a sudden smile shines bright and wide, and a chuckle crackles from within her mouth. She said after 91 years on Earth, you have to keep a good sense of humor.
“I don’t want anyone coming over here to my home with me crying all the time, they’ll think I’m nuts,” she said. “People probably already think I am a nut though, but that is OK. I always have a good time, which is what attracted my husband to me in the first place years and years ago.”
Joining the adventure today with a truck full of hams is Steve Brown, who also regularly checks on his vivacious grandmother. Brown, 56, took over the family business, Brown Packing Co., some years ago and is always willing to lend a hand in whatever endeavor Hildreth Brown has up her sleeve.
“For as long as I can remember, she has done something for the (Bryant) police and firefighters,” he said. “For years she made fruitcake cookies, but when she got to where she couldn’t really cook anymore, she started taking them all out for lunch. This is the first year that we are giving them all hams.”
Hildreth Brown said it was the times when her friends would visit for sing-a-longs that her grandson and she bonded. She said he “gets a kick out of me” and always liked her music nights. Though she won’t admit it herself, Steve Brown said with exuberance that his grandmother has music skills to rival anyone in Saline County.
“She can play a mean honkey-tonk piano,” he said. “She plays a lot of ragtime and other stuff. I bet the police and firefighters who visit can attest to this, as I don’t think anyone can ever leave without hearing at least a song or two before walking out the door.”
It isn’t just the police and firefighters that Brown will treat, and it isn’t only on the holidays either. Whenever the mood strikes her, several of Brown’s friends will receive personal invitations to gather inside her home for the sing-a-longs. Those friends are also treated to dinner before the piano ever strikes a tune.
“We may go down to the catfish place or wherever, then we come back and have a good ol’ time,” Brown said. “I like to play the piano, and I don’t play very well, but so what? We always have a lot of fun, because we can just be ourselves. We aren’t trying to make a hit (record), we are all just singing.”
A native of Pine Bluff, Hildreth Brown said it was her father’s parenting skills that set the tone for her life. She said he also was musically talented, playing everything from the violin and guitar to the trumpet.
“He never took a lesson a day in his life either,” Hildreth Brown said. “He would always have us kids perform music at home for him and friends. Later on when he passed, he made just enough money to pay for all of his children to continue through high school, and we all graduated.”
She said it was when she was working as a bookkeeper in the stockyards at Pine Bluff that she met Gordon. Soon after, the two married, and they would later move to Saline County.
“I like to talk a lot and probably too much,” Hildreth Brown said with a laugh. “I think that is what he liked; he didn’t say much, and I wasn’t afraid to speak my mind.”
The two even had a horse farm, but not just any horses: racing quarterhorses. They even had world-champion horses, including Monsieur Joe.
Now, oftentimes when her big house gets lonesome, she’ll peer out a window and talk to her three huge dogs. Sometimes during those moments, a a local police officer or firefighter, or a neighbor or friend will knock at the door.
“The Lord’s been good to me, and I know that,” Hildreth Brown said. “Oftentimes, when my dad died when I was younger, we didn’t have anything, but we didn’t mind working though. Mostly now though I just work my mouth. I always have a good time though, and I can be kind of a ham, which kind of fits with me giving all these hams out.”
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