The Preacher's Kid and Other Writings by Agnes Lola Griffin Brown.

 Alexandria, Va.: Athena Pegasus Publishing, 2000.

From Foreword by Peggy Ann Brown:

 

When I was growing up, my mother always encouraged me to write

about what I saw and felt.  Each holiday was an opportunity to express

myself with homemade greeting cards, and every vacation a time to be

documented with scrapbooks and journals.  It seemed inevitable somehow

that I would one day work as a writer, just as my daughter Rachel now

sees her future as an author. 

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Perhaps this desire to describe and make sense of the world is genetic.  In the introduction to her unfinished autobiography, my mother acknowledges that she has always had this urge to write.  But she is more than a writer, she is a storyteller, a weaver of truths, and a teller of tales.  She enjoyed reading parts of her book aloud at her various club meetings.  Many of the stories in this volume are ones I heard growing up, others are gems that bubbled to the surface as she put pen to paper and decided to share her story and that of her family.

 

                                                                                        * * * * *

On March 2, 1999, Agnes Lola Griffin Brown passed away after a long week of suffering.  Her sudden illness was unexpected, tragic, and nearly unbearable as the doctors kept saying she would die within a few hours, and she showed her body and will to be stronger than anyone could have predicted.     

​

With piercing clarity, I have come to realize that much of what I am is the product of her love and encouragement--a fact that is reinforced nearly daily as I long to talk with her about what is happening in our lives and in the news.  By publishing her writings, I hope to rejuvenate family and friends with the positive spirit she shared with others and to introduce those who never met her to the benefits of her perseverance and good humor. . . .

 

In preparing these chapters for publication, I have tried to change as little as possible.  I cannot read her words without hearing her voice and am loathe to change her style.  I have corrected her spelling and grammatical missteps but have left her sometimes long sentences and colloquial word choices intact, as they are as much the technique of the storyteller as of the writer. . . .

​

To those who have suggested that I complete her story, I must defer to my mother's wonderful storytelling abilities.  This is her book, and her story.  Mom, I only wish I could ask you to autograph it personally.

​

Contents:

• Foreword by Peggy Ann Brown

• Acknowledgements

• Introduction

• Part One: The Preacher's Kid

• Part Two: Family History

• Part Three: Essays

• Part Four: Brainstorming

 

The Preacher's Kid was edited by Peggy Ann Brown.  Amy Wajda designed the cover and text.  To order a copy please go to write peggyannbrown AT verizon DOT net.

All sales benefit the Agnes Griffin Brown Memorial Scholarship at Central Methodist University, Fayette, Missouri.  Central Methodist held a special place in my mother's heart: after graduating during the Depression as her high school class valedictorian, she went to work in a box factory.  An anonymous donor heard about this bright girl whose family could not afford to send her to college and offered her a scholarship to Central Methodist, which she gratefully accepted and which led to adventures far beyond her small town upbringing.