thursday, december 7, 1978
page 6
daily nebraskan
Erratic childhood, civic work lead Brown to city council
By Kris Hansen
The one-story house is long, sprawling and white, with
a driveway arching past the front door.
A pair of grinning hobgoblins, left-overs from Hallo
ween, peek from the window of the upper-middle class
house. Inside is Arlyss Brown-43-year-old mother,
lawyer, civic worker and new city councilwoman.
She is a homey kind of person-short, square-faced,
blue-eyed. Her short brown hair lies in loose ringlets about
her head. She has a ready smile and a quick, low laugh.
Past experiences help
Easing back on the couch, Brown smiled as she
reflected how the events of her life led to her appointment
as councilwoman. She said many things from her past,
from her erratic childhood to her civic work, will help her
in her new job.
Brown grew up jumping from town to town and school
to school. Born in Ashland, she lived in three different
cities before settling in central Omaha.
She jumped from class to class, too. As well as chang
ing schools often, Brown skipped a grade from kinder
garten to first grade.
Brown said the jump was a mixed blessing. Although
she had no trouble keeping up with the class, being a year
behind in size occasionally bothered her.
No Christmas part
She recalled her part in the first grade Christmas play
or rather the part she didn't play-of hanging the
Christmas stocking.
"They took the part away because I couldn't reach the
stocking. It absolutely crushed me," Brown said. "I don't
think teachers realize sometimes how important little
things are to kids."
She contracted rheumatic fever when she was 1 0 years
old and suffered recurring bouts for the next three years.
The fever and pain kept her bedridden much of the time.
"I came to appreciate then the things I'd been taking
for granted before that -the simple things. It was also
when I developed a deep faith in God," Brown said.
Mother tutored
Brown said her mother, a teacher, tutored her while
she was ill. Since she was confined to bed and could only
listen to radio and study, she was ahead of her class once
she returned to school.
Brown's teacher advised against letting her move ahead
with her class, saying that even though she was ahead, she
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Arlyss Brown is being sworn in as Lincoln's new city councilwoman.
Daily Nebraskan photo
could not cope after being gone.
"I remember her telling Mom, 'She has a lot of poten
tial to do great things but if you don't keep her back, it'll
come to nothing.' Well, here's nothing," said Brown with
a laugh.
Brown said she was active in many things at Omaha
Technical High School, which earned her the class most
valuable student award.
High school, college debater
She was an avid debater and won several awards,
including the Missouri Valley Debate Championship.
She continued debating throughout college, but later
gave it up.
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"I had enjoyed it, but once you had won the champ
ionship they wouldn't let you do it again," Brown
recalled. "Besides, I was getting tired of it."
Although Brown entered Omaha University (now
UNO) as an art major, she earned bachelor degrees with
honors in both government and speech, along with making
different plans for her life.
"My biggest ambition when I was growing up was to be
a dress designer," Brown said. "How I ever wound up
being an attorney I'll never know."
Designing thrill disappears
Her high school plans included going to one of the
coasts to study dress design, but her parents would not let
her go since she was only 16, Brown explained. After
taking art classes at OU, she found the thrill of designing
had disappeared.
Continued on page 7
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