Who says the media only report bad news?

InsideBayArea.com published a heart-warming feature story today about a new honor for retired UC Cooperative Extension nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor and San Mateo County director Gloria Brown.

Brown received a "Local Hero" award Wednesday in recognition of four decades spent educating her community and raising awareness of serious health and nutrition issues, especially among African-Americans.

Brown's list of accolades and accomplishments is long, according to the story. "She has served on so many boards, she can't keep track of them all," the article says.

Two years ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Brown for a news release about her retirement. At the time she told me the civil rights movement gave her the courage to apply for her job with UCCE in 1969, even though she was seven months pregnant.

Brown lived in San Mateo County all her life, except for the years she spent in college at Texas Southern University. Brown graduated from high school at the height of the civil rights movement in the South and sought to be a first-hand witness of the momentous changes underway.

“I wanted to attend a historical black institution. It was the best experience I could have ever had,” Brown said. “Dr. Martin Luther King spoke at our school and Barbara Jordan, the first black congresswoman from Texas, was our commencement speaker.”

The InsideBayArea story said that Brown pioneered screening services for breast cancer, diabetes and prostate cancer as a board member at Mills-Peninsula Health Services, is a recent inductee into the San Mateo County Women's Hall of Fame, and was named one of the 10 most influential Bay Area African-Americans in 2003.

Gloria Brown

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