Claudette Brown's career in education spanned more than 40 years, first as a longtime government teacher at Nacogdoches High School, then later at Stephen F. Austin State University, where she continued working as an adjunct professor teaching dual credit courses.
Brown died Monday; she was 86. Services are set for 10 a.m., Friday, June 14, at First Baptist Church in Nacogdoches, and visitation with the family will be held from 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday, June 13, at Cason Monk-Metcalf Funeral Home.
The Halletsville native spent her life in education, including 33 years as a teacher beloved by both students and staff at NHS. Brown was hired by NISD in 1970, and after retiring in 2003, she spent another 10 years at SFA.
“Ms. Brown was a true American, with a great love for our country,” said Farshid Niroumand, a former coach and athletic director at NHS who now serves on the district’s Board of Trustees. “She was a dear friend, a great educator, a wonderful teacher, a campus leader who was respected by all… she will be missed by all who knew her.”
At NHS, she also served as student council sponsor, helping lead the group to several state offices. In 1989 Brown received the Leon Jaworski Award for Excellence in Teaching Law Focused Education. Additionally, she was honored as the Outstanding American History Teacher for the State of Texas by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and in 2012 she was inducted into the Nacogdoches Heritage Festival Hall of Fame.
“The one thing I always wanted my students to do was to learn to appreciate what we have,” Brown said in 2012, in a story published in the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel after she received the Heritage Festival honor. “I think the thing all of us should think of is how grateful we are to live in a country like the United States, where we have the freedoms that others do not.”
Brown’s husband, the late Dr. Charles Brown, taught economics for many years at SFA.
“While I never worked with Ms. Brown, over the years I’ve met and witnessed so many teachers who made such a difference in their community,” said NISD Superintendent Dr. Gabriel Trujillo. “There’s no way to measure the true impact she had on generations of students. So many were influenced by Ms. Brown, and our school district and our community are the better for it.”