David Wm. Brown    Middletown, Rhode Island

I was a Connecticut farm boy who grew up during the 1930s Depression and World War II … became interested in conserving soils, and in reducing rural poverty and world hunger … studied agronomy at UConn, then agricultural economics at Cornell and Iowa State … first was a prof at the U of Tennessee, but soon was off to help build new university, outreach, and action programs in Singapore/Malaysia, Texas, Peru, Iowa, back to Tennessee, Rome with UN/FAO, Indonesia, and Pakistan … did short tasks in about 20 other countries. Since semi-retiring in 1993 to Newport County, Rhode Island, I have served on boards related to local/area land-use planning, soil conservation, urban tree stewardship, environmental restoration of old Navy sites, affordable housing access, and international policy issues. Here’s a link to more details about me, up to 2019: https://restlessageconomist.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/About-Dave-Brown-Sep-2025-edit.pdf

In May 2023, U.S. Senator Jack Reed visited the John Clarke retirement center, where I live, to recognize my civic roles, especially with the Navy Newport Restoration Advisory Board. What a nice surprise that was!

More recently I’ve become part of a new emergency radio communications network in and near Newport County that would help people to be in touch with others should a big storm or another bad event wipe out cell phones, power lines, means of travel and such.

I hope this affirms to others that we oldsters can still do useful things. We needn’t be a drag on society. We don’t have to drive around to meetings or be in the limelight. By phone and email we can serve as mature sounding boards for new leaders to turn to. We can be vocal about issues without fear of losing a job. We can be in on useful webinars all around the U.S. and world from the comforts of our retirement abode. And with internet and time for focused thinking, we can help super-busy next-generations delve into subjects that deserve more researching and better framing.

In addition, I have the joys of remembering 55 years with my late wife, Jeannie Young Brown, who was community-active and then some. She was an Oberlin sociology grad, with master’s degrees in juvenile justice and library science. She was a real partner in our moves to the U. S. South and several overseas assignments. Everywhere we lived, she forged good changes and relationships via hard work and a friendly light touch. Here in Rhode Island, 1993-2011, she was a reference librarian at Newport Public Library, chaired the Newport Substance Abuse Prevention Task Force, helped found the Circle of Scholars for seniors, and helped guide Newport Art Museum educational work, and had energizing influences during “retirement” in many other ways.

I have a daughter who travels a lot as an energetic, experienced community political organizer with a national nurses union. After years in California and elsewhere, she now lives in Rhode Island and provides me many helps and pleasures as I reach my mid-90s. So does my son — a civic-minded attorney in southern Florida. He and his wife went to university in Rhode Island and visit whenever they can. Not to forget their two thoughtful daughters, who are a grandfather’s delight as their talents blossom out.