By Staff
SCOUT LEADER n Even after her two sons completed their days as Cub Scouts back in the early 1970s, Ruby Brown continued to serve as den leader. Brown said she still enjoys working with the Cub Scouts and has no plans to retire anytime soon. Photo by Steve Swogetinsky/The Meridian Star
By Steve Swogetinsky/The Meridian Star
Aug. 12, 2001
Every so often, a young man will walk up to Ruby Brown with a big smile on his face and ask a question.
After serving as a Cub Scout leader in her church for more than 30 years, Brown admits it's hard for her to remember all of her former Scouts on first sight.
She will ask their name, and then quickly remembers when the young man was a member of Pack 500 of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Lauderdale County.
Not the plan
Cub Scouts, a part of the Boy Scouts program, is for boys in grades first through fifth. Ruby Brown was just trying to get her two sons involved in Cub Scouts when she attended a Boy Scout School Night in 1970.
When the representative from the Choctaw Council registered the boys and formed the Cub Scout pack, he also told Brown she was going to be the den leader.
In fact, when her sons finished with Cub Scouts and moved into the Boy Scouts program, she stayed with the Cub Scouts as the den leader.
Brown has served in several leadership roles with the Choctaw Council. In addition to being a pack leader and a den leader, she is the assistant director for Cub Scout Day Camp. She is also on the District Committee Board.
She has many good memories from her years of service
Much appreciated
Noel Evans, executive director of the Choctaw Area Council, said it takes volunteers like Brown and many others to make the Cub and Boy Scout programs a success in Meridian and East Mississippi.
Helping others
Brown has lived in Lauderdale County all her life.
She graduated from Middleton Attendance Center, now Northeast Lauderdale High School. She is married to Joe L. Brown, who serves a deacon in their church. She teaches Sunday school and serves as an usher. The Browns are the parents of five children.
Brown spends her life helping others. She makes her living taking care of the elderly in her neighborhood and checks in on others on a volunteer basis.
And, she has two of her grandsons involved in her Cub Scout pack. Both are named Michael.
Steve Swogetinsky is regional editor of The Meridian Star. Call him at 693-1551, ext. 3217, or e-mail him at sswogetinsky@themeridianstar.com.