01/10/2024
This year, the M.L. King parade Marshall is Patricia Brown.
Patricia Brown is the daughter of the late Lula Mae Pettit and Kelly Long of Wharton and the granddaughter of Erin Pettit and Myrtle Mayweather Steel. Mrs. Brown's great-grandparents are Butch Edwards and Pearl Edwards (deceased) of Wharton.
During the late 1950s and 70s, her family owned a boarding house on Burleson St and rental and boarding houses on Shepard and Spanish Camp Rd; one of those properties was a grocery store that housed a doctor's office and, later on, a beauty salon.
Mrs. Patricia Brown is an educator at heart but got her first degree in Fashion Merchandising and Marketing from Texas Women's University in Denton, Texas, in 1981. A few years later, she got the opportunity to be a substitute teacher at Powell Point School in Kendleton, Texas, where she was encouraged to get her teaching certification. Her love for teaching and children landed her a job at HISD, where she taught at Hobby Elementary School and excelled in her field of study.
Mrs. Brown was also a Principal at Attucks Middle School. Mrs. Brown then went on to Alief ISD, where she became a teacher at Best Elementary Math and Science Curriculum Specialist. She moved up through hard work, growth, and continued education, landing her first Assistant Principal job. Not long after that, Mrs. Brown became the Principal of Holub Middle School, also in Alief ISD. Mrs. Brown felt that she needed to give back to her community and joined WISD, where she held the roles of Director of Professional Development and Principal of Wharton Junior High and Wharton Elementary School. Mrs. Brown, now retired, is an Adjunct Professor at Houston Community College, where she continues to use her gifts to provide young educators a path to their teacher certifications.
Mrs. Brown married the late Carlton Bennett Brown, Benny, of Wharton, and had two children, Xandrea Brown-Green and Zachery Brown, and two lovely grandchildren, Chloe and Zoe. Mrs. Brown plans to continue her family's legacy and revitalize the West End neighborhood by returning business ownership and housing to her community.
