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A kind-hearted person who wouldn’t hesitate to help a stranger, an activist who urged many to vote during the Civil Rights era and devoted family man. David Brown died at 79 on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015.
David Brown was born to James and Beulah Brown on the Crescent Farm Plantation in 1936. The Shaffer family provided homes to the families of those who toiled in the sugar cane fields.
But David always knew he was destined to do greater things than swing a sickle in the hot south Louisiana sun.
“He always said there was more to life than working on that farm,” said Joan Marie Staidum, one of David’s daughters.
David was one of four boys and four girls. He and his brothers all worked in the sugar cane fields.
When he was 16, he took up shoe shining. It was a skill he would turn back to later in life not as enterprise, but as therapy
It was around that age that David left the plantation to find work in Houma, then a small town compared to what it is today
David began working as a deliverer and assembler for Joe Byes Furniture. Later, he worked at the United Gas Pipeline Company and Cross Equipment.
David was a hard worker – a trait displayed throughout his life.
“From the time we got married, it was always work! Work! Work!” exclaimed his wife of 57 years, Margaret Johnson Brown.
He was a handyman who eventually earned the moniker, “The Tool Man,” around the neighborhood. If someone was digging a hole, fixing a fence or even painting, David would jump in and help.
And David Brown was a dapper, well-dressed man. No matter what his attire, he’d still lend a hand.
David was the type of man who would help any stranger without hesitation. His daughter, Jean Marie Brown, described how when she was a manager at Wal-Mart, David passed by one of her employees stranded on the side of the road before dawn.
He didn’t know the woman worked for his daughter, but he could see she was struggling to change a flat tire. Many drivers passed by, but only David stopped to assist.
David also believed in democracy, education and achieving equality for all Americans.
He was a member of the NAACP and the Martin Luther King Jr. Committee, which was seeking to name the major throughway now known as Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
During the Civil Rights era, David would assist those who suffered from poor eyesight in getting glasses. He would take people to get registered to vote and lent his support to several candidates.
David impressed on his six children the importance of voting as well, and escorted them to the Registrar of Voters office to register when each of them became eligible to vote.
He was actively involved with Shriners International and was proud to become a 33rd degree Free Mason. He loved riding his bright red dune buggy in Mardi Gras parades.
David was also a member of the Lions Club. He devoted much of his time to his civic endeavors, and would often invite strangers to his home for a meal. To him, no one was a stranger.
David was very active in church and believed that a family who prayed together stayed together, his daughter Joan said. He also loved to bowl and insisted the family join him on outings.
He took his family on a cruise every year for 13 years.
Family agreed Brown’s Achilles heel was assembling anything that required reading instructions. He never read them.
He was left-handed, Jean said, and any screws he tightened were always too tight.
“And there’d be screws left over and he’d say, ‘Those are spare parts, just put those away,”‘ Joan recalled.
David was well-loved in Houma. He eventually retired at 67 in 2003. He still worked, though, to a degree.
He built himself a shoeshine stand and shined the shoes of local doctors, lawyers and many law enforcement officers in front of his house. It became a local hang out. Though, sometimes he’d leave the sign telling people he was on a 15-minute break out for two hours.
“‘When you’re retired, you can do that,’ he’d tell us,” Joan said.
People would leave their shoes on top of the plywood pedestal and come back for them later if they missed the opportunity to chat with the amicable Mr. Brown.
David Brown grew up on a sugar plantation and became a distinguished man who fought hard during the ’50s and ’60s for locals’ right to vote. He was heavily involved in a number of civic organizations and devoted to his family. Mr. Brown died at age 79 on Thursday, Sept. 24.
