Chickasaw elder, veteran honored by OSU

CONTRIBUTED BY Dana Lance, Media Relations.

This article appeared in the December 2014 edition of the Chickasaw Times

A Chickasaw veteran was recently honored by her alma mater with the American Indian Alumni Society Distinguished Alumni Award for 2014.

Jeraldine “Jerry” Brown, of Edmond, Okla., received the honor from the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association and the OSU American Indian Alumni Society in a ceremony Nov. 15.

Gov. Bill Anoatubby said Mrs. Brown was very deserving of this honor.

“Jeraldine Brown has been a trailblazer for Chickasaw citizens, and all Oklahomans,” Gov. Anoatubby said. “Her lifelong legacy of service to her country, her family and Oklahoma’s youth is a shining example for everyone.”

A 1943 education graduate of Oklahoma A&M College, now Oklahoma State University, Mrs. Brown enlisted in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and reported for basic training two months following graduation.

During her service, she served in a top-secret mission because of a photography class she had taken in college. Assigned to develop film in a Pentagon photo lab, Mrs. Brown witnessed first-hand the devastation of the first atomic bomb dropped on Hirohsima.

Discharged from the Army in 1945, Mrs. Brown later obtained her master’s degree from Central State University (now University of Central Oklahoma) and taught sixth grade for 12 years. She continued to substitute teach until 2012 when she turned 90.

Throughout her life, Mrs. Brown has continued to carry on the legacy of education which was instilled in her from her Chickasaw mother.

Despite the death of her father and the family’s subsequent financial hardships, Mrs. Brown enrolled at Oklahoma A&M College after graduating Classen High School in Oklahoma City in 1939.

“There was never any question I was going to college,” she said.

Arriving at school with $100 in her pocket, she worked several jobs to pay her way through school.

She also helped her legally-blind roommate learn music by reading the notes, a skill she learned from her mother. The roommate would transcribe the notes in Braille. They remained friends for 40 years.

While at Oklahoma A&M, Mrs. Brown was member of the Aggie Pep Squad and an “Aggiette” cheerleader her senior year. She is a member of Delta Kappa Gamma.

Mrs. Brown has received the Teacher of the Year Award for a teaching career that spanned more than 40 years. She is an active member of the OU Medical Center Edmond Volunteer Auxiliary. She was president of the organization in 2010 and named Volunteer of the Year in 2012.

She continues to serve others at 92 years old by volunteering three days a week at OU Medical Center.

Mrs. Brown was also recently honored at the AARP Oklahoma Indian Elder Honors.