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Meet Bill Brown
Ted
Bell has been writing parishioner profiles for the Epistles for the past several
months and deserves a break. So when he asked to interview Bill Brown, Bill
(modestly) said he would interview himself.
Why did Ted pick you?
He was desperate. Better picks had turned him down.
Dodie Brown, at an annual meeting a few years ago, called you the “church
mouse”. Explain that.
I’m not going to fall in that trap.
Don’t try to be funny. Say what you do?
So happens I meddle in the music (that’s why Jerry can’t find some of the
anthems), care for the carillon (that’s why it isn’t working right), edit both
the weekly and monthly Epistles (note the errors). replace the bad bulbs in the
overhead lights in the nave (now you know why it’s dark in places), sing (ha!)
in the choir and (occasionally) fail on my own (sing a solo), and try to create
a worshipful aura by providing pre-service music at the 10 a.m.Eucharist from my
vast CD collection (two).
How long have you been a member of St. Peter’s?
Not as long as some but longer than others, which means 20 years plus.
Are you a cradle Episcopalian?
No, but I was born sinless. I didn’t see the light until living (going to
school) in England after World War II when I started singing in a choir for
Anglican services. Later, after returning home to study at Kansas State, I
married a Methodist and as a dutiful husband, attended her church (which had a
choir) but only after an earlier visit to the Episcopal church nearby, which was
choirless.
From that, I’m guessing you served in WWII. That true?
Yes, but we (our side) won anyway.
Were you in the army?
I think so. At least my uniform matched the other guys’who said they were in the
army.
I know you have returned to England several times. Did you leave
something there?
Besides my heart and some friends? No, but I claim to be a true Anglophile. I
think this came about as a wee child knowing my England-born great-grandfather,
reading many of the P.G. Wodehouse books as a teenager and then being sent to
Wales to train with the British Army. As I mentioned, I did some undergraduate
work there and later returned to the University of London to earn a Master’s
degree in international journalism..
So you were a journalist?
Gee, I thought once a journalist always a journalist. I not only studied it but
practiced it for 20 years (reporter, managing editor, editor) before I decided I
was qualified to teach it—which I did at K-State and later at KU.
How could you, a loyal Wildcat, ascend to the Mt. Oread home of the
Jayhawks?
Actually it wasn’t an ascension. I fell in the Kansas (some call it the Kaw)
river at Manhattan and it’s downhill all the way to Lawrence. Didn’t you catch a
touch of fame as the editor Truman Capote mentioned in his book “In Cold Blood”?
Yes, but to Capote my so-called fame was infamous. We had developed an
adversarial relationship. My reaction? I didn’t know he cared.
Do you have any advice for young people considering a career in
journalism?
Yes, first become an Episcopalian (if you aren’t already), and then a Democrat.
Success will follow.
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