Harriet Brown, Legendary Missionary to Alaska

Long-term missionary to Alaska, and former interim pastor in Kotlik, the late Harriet Brown became a fund-raiser for the Kotlik church. Miss B went to her heavenly reward February 8, 2005.

Dedicated to the Memory of

Harriet Brown

"Legendary Missionary to Alaska"

By Marge Marshall

"Aunt Harriet's Scrapbook" by her family in Canada
You'll treasure it!

A nice note from Harriet's nephew in Canada: Thank you so much for the creation of this website. I had the privilege of traveling to Alaska a few weeks ago. My intention was to visit my Aunt Harriet in the hospital. The trip turned into a funeral planning trip as she died while I was enroute. It was a privilege to hear the stories and take home memories of "Miss Brown" that I really only knew as my missionary aunt in Alaska. It is a wonderful heritage for me as I am pastoring in a church as the Director of Evangelism and Outreach. It was a real encouragement to hear the stories of her faith and her reaching out the the "outcasts" of our society. I definitely would like to hear from more people that knew my Aunt Harriet. If people want to forward personal stories to me through this email address, tedbrown@krt.org I will be sure to share them with family.

God Bless, Ted Brown

Linda Schulz remembers Miss Brown in "What a Weekend!"

ANCHORAGE

Harriet Brown, 88

Longtime Alaska resident Harriet Everard Brown, 88, died Feb. 8, 2005, at Providence Alaska Medical Center. [Note: cause of death was listed on the death certificate as natural causes due to cardio-respiratory failure and cancer.]

A visitation was Friday at Evergreen Memorial Chapel. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m., with a visitation from 10 to 11 a.m., today (Feb. 12) at Anchorage Native Assembly, 11th Avenue and Ingra Street. The Rev. Eldon Hicks will officiate. She will be buried at Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery.

Ms. Brown was born April 26, 1916, in Crookston, Minn., to Charles and Harriet Brown. She spent most of her childhood in Mt. Pleasant, Ontario, Canada. She graduated from Victoria Hospital School of Nursing, London, Canada, in 1946.

Ms. Brown moved to Alaska on July 3, 1946. She came to Alaska as a missionary with the Assemblies of God. She ministered faithfully in Seward, Nome, St. Paul Island, Kotlik, Minto, Fort Yukon, Tok Junction, Nuiqsut, Hoonah, Yakutat, Kodiak, Cordova, Haines, Stebbins and other villages.

"She loved the Native people of Alaska. She was more at home in the villages than she was in the city," her family said.

She is survived by her son, Ron Brown of Anchorage; sister, Barbara Brown of Brampton, Ontario, Canada; brother, Richard Brown of Buffalo, N.Y.; six nephews and four nieces; 35 great-nephews and -nieces and five great-great-nephews and -nieces. She was preceded in death by her sister, Anna Brown, and her brothers, Davy Brown and Willard Brown.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to Alaska District Council, Harriet Brown Memorial Fund, 1048 W. International Airport Road, Suite 101, Anchorage 99518

Published February 12, 2005 in the Anchorage Daily News and on www.adn.com.

For community information about Alaska villages:
Go to http://alaska.hometownlocator.com/ .

February 7, 2005. Harriet Brown, long-time missionary to Alaska, has gone to be with the Lord. Miss B, as she liked to be called (I asked her), was raised in Canada, but God called her to Alaska just after the end of World War II. When Howard filled in for Harriet at Kotlik early in June 1998, she had gone to Anchorage for medical treatment. So we stayed in her apartment above the church. Miss B was a precious lady who had many adventures in Alaska - I told her she should write a book, but she replied that she didn't have the time to do it. Harriet Brown will be greatly missed by everyone who knew her, but we know she's in heaven now and already has heard the words, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." Matthew 25:23 KJV

Following are pictures and notes from our time in Kotlik - you'll get an idea of where Harriet lived and the people she worked with.

Miss B's "temporary" home in Kotlik.

Kotlik is a unique village in that it has no roads, only boardwalks, because of the wet tundra, so cars and pickups aren't needed. The building contains the church (lower level at left) and a furnished parsonage upstairs. It needs to be moved because the river is washing away the silt which makes up the riverbank. The ground is very wet in the summer, but even then it is frozen wherever the sun doesn't reach it. Peoples' homes have to be leveled sometimes because they tend to sink toward the sunny part.

June 5, 1998 - Kotlik.

We're here (from Emmonak) for a few days - Howard is "filling in" for Harriet Brown - so I thought I'd tell about this village, which is south of Nome, across Norton Sound (a part of the Bering Sea).

We have several "firsts" here in Kotlik: our first experience with "honey buckets." And not only are there no roads to the village, there are no streets in it - just boardwalks, on the ground, all in and around the village. Our water comes from a hose for the indoor pipe system. Howard refilled the wooden tank Saturday, with a long hose to the public sauna building, located just south of the church. Harriet has posted a little sign in the bathroom: "Easy on the water. A little water must come from a long way." Part of the homes have water and sewer service and the City is working on getting everyone else hooked up.

There are two grocery/mercantile stores, AC Value Center, and the Native store, Kotlik Laufkuk. The folks here are friendly - most are Yupiks. We've found out how they get along without a bank out here in the Bush: each AC store has an ATM machine! (Alaska Commercial Company).

Kotlik is on a "pass" of the Yukon River; not far from here it goes into Norton Sound, a part of the Bering Sea. From the kitchen, we watch the boats on the river, which is so close we almost feel like we're on a ferry--we just see water when we're sitting at the table. It's about 300 feet across the river to some more houses. The skiffs they use here are wide and flat-bottomed, and the residents are just as comfortable with them as we are in our cars in Kansas City. Barges come along here, so the main channel is deep. The first ones of spring came in Tuesday evening--and they "parked" almost in front of the church, so we had a good view. There were two. One to carry the goods, and the other with a crane to put the goods on the land. They brought the material for a new house for a couple being married soon.

The families are beginning to go to their fish camps. The king salmon aren't here yet, but they're going out after herring eggs, berries, duck and geese. There are herring and whitefish, and probably other kinds of fish, but king salmon is the most important. They hang it out to dry, then freeze it to keep it fresh.

Now that the ground is warming, there are the usual bugs, so the birds are here too. Out our window, we can see little birds with shiny blue-green backs, swallows, I think. They sure are pretty. One morning, we saw what I call an "arctic rainbow," because it wasn't arched like the usual rainbow, but just a gently-curved, delicately-tinted band of color on the clouds -- beautiful!

Miss B had some caribou meat in the freezer, so Howard thawed it and made Caribou Stew. It's good, although the meat tastes flat to me. When Harriet returned, I mentioned the taste to her, and she told me she usually mixes some beef into her stew to enhance the meat flavor. I learned to enjoyed herbal tea in Harriet's kitchen - she had several different flavors.

Sunday, after evening church, we'll have a Potluck Supper and fellowship here in the parsonage part of the building (bedrooms are upstairs). Last week, Howard made some of his "famous" Salmon Dip (which he learned to make in southeast Alaska, and has since added his own variations). His recipe is below.

Our trip last Friday by Grant Air was stand-by, so we only had about five minutes to pack. Then one wheel of the small plane got stuck, in front of the Grant Aviation, Inc. office. A minor thing -- one of the men gave the wing a shove and we were free. The flight was about 20 minutes. The pilot watched for moose, so we saw a couple. Mike, the pilot, is on the school board, so he knows people in Klawock, Craig and Hydaburg, where we were last year.

It's getting warmer here, I'm wearing only three layers when I'm outdoors, including my parka. Friday evening, I turned the heat up for the bedrooms upstairs, not realizing that I was heating the church part too, so all the Yupiks were hot and laughing at me. I was quite comfortable, myself! I'll get acclimated soon. My warm-blooded husband already is. Yesterday was our second day of sunshine in a row, so we went out walking. The wind was still cold though, because it comes across the ice in the Bering Sea. It sure enough is spring, because some little flowers were in bloom. Yellow, but not dandelions.

It's getting to be like heaven here -- at least the part about "there'll be no night there"!!!! The sun sets, but it doesn't really get dark. And it's another three weeks until the longest day of the year! Between sunrise and sunset, the sun makes a circular path, instead of across the sky like it does in Kansas. That's why the days are so long -- you'll recall what we were taught in school, "The shortest path between 2 objects is a straight line," or something like that.

Howard's Salmon Dip (or Sandwich Spread)

2 pints cooked, boned salmon
8 oz. cream cheese
8 oz. sour cream
4 oz. chopped chilies
       (those little green peppers on the Mexican shelves at the grocery store)
8 oz. mayonnaise
1 medium onion, chopped
4 oz. dill relish or ground dill pickles
Seasonings, to your taste:
     Black pepper
     Garlic powder
     Mrs. Dash
     Johnny's Seasoning
     Cavender's Greek Seasoning
     Jalapeno peppers, ground up

Use hand mixer to mix together. Use on crackers, chips, bread, or Pilot Bread (giant round crackers which are popular in Alaska). Enjoy!

Just before we left the Yukon Delta area, we flew back to Kotlik to tell Harriet goodbye, and she told us more about her call to Alaska. When she decided to go, she went to her brother's home - he was newly married - and told him she was sailing to Anchorage. He and his wife asked her if she was taking clothing for the cold weather and she told him she hadn't even thought about that! So they helped her pack a trunk - and her sister-in-law gave Harriet her own new fur coat.

Harriet also told us about some of her experiences. When she took her (adopted) son and went to Nome - the parsonage hadn't been kept warm, and Harriet said they had their own igloo - the interior was all coated with ice! In another village, little Ron became a missionary too: he went door-to-door inviting everyone to church, including the Episcopalian priest, who enjoyed telling Mom Harriet about it. In another village, one of the men in the congregation told her he did not like the idea of a woman as pastor; she said she went right up to him and sternly told him that God had called her, and he'd better get used to the idea! Which he did, and they got along very well after that.

Before we began our volunteer work in Alaska, we had heard of Harriet - so that's why I call her "The Legendary Missionary to Alaska." She wouldn't have agreed with it and probably would have laughed about it. Marge Marshall, 14-Feb-05

What a Weekend!
By Linda Schulz

Through the years, we have had many experiences with Miss Brown, but one has to stand out as my most memorable weekend of all my 36 years in Alaska. It was the summer of 1975 and we were living in Kotlik, Alaska. My girls were one and three years old. Ken Andrus had taken my husband to a hunting camp for a week (or however long it took to get our year’s supply of meat). The girls and I had the privilege of “staying by the stuff” in Kotlik. On Saturday, a mail plane flew from Stebbins/St. Michael to Kotlik. Miss Brown was then ministering in Stebbins. She was on her way out to itinerate in Canada and the Lower 48. Since her route to Anchorage came through Kotlik, she (along with her adopted son, Ronnie) surprised me by showing up on my doorstep shortly after the mail plane landed. There would not be a plane scheduled out until Monday. I was delighted to have company and felt privileged to get to know this legendary missionary. It was a rainy day as Miss Brown and I sat and visited. Ronnie was restless and finally Miss Brown decided it would be all right for him to go visiting some of his friends in town.

By evening, Ronnie had not returned. Miss Brown went for a walk looking for him with no luck. As I readied the girls for bed, Miss Brown asked if we could leave the door unlocked so that Ronnie could get in when he came home. I reluctantly agreed. Ronnie did come home sometime during the night. Jim had plumbed the house “village style” for running water as long as we kept the tank on the back porch full. Ronnie wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to take a tub bath (since he and Miss Brown did not have running water in Stebbins). Our tub was an old-fashioned, very deep tub which he must have filled to top because the next morning, our water tank was empty.

On Sunday morning we awoke to an empty water tank, full honey pot (village bathroom facility consisting of a 5 gallon bucket with a seat), and Sunday School and church in just a few hours. As I prepared breakfast, Miss Brown said she did not want to alarm me but when she came into the kitchen this morning, we had a visitor. My mind flew to the unlocked door. She said there was a little mouse scampering across the floor. I was shocked! I had never had a mouse in the house. She said it had run to the front porch when it saw her. As I peeked out on the porch, I discovered the front door ajar several inches. Ronnie had not gotten the door shut when he came in! Now, how were we going to get this little critter out of the house?

Never mind. We had other things we had to deal with at the time. I told Miss Brown we needed to pump water from the outside rain barrels into the holding tank on the back porch and get the honey pot emptied before church started. I went to the front porch and pulled my rubber boots on to go outside. Just as I took a step, I felt a wiggle in the front of one toe. You guessed it. The mouse was in my boot! I screamed, threw the boot across the kitchen scaring Miss Brown in the process. Then I realized if I got the boot and took it outside, I would have the mouse outside—which I did immediately. I dumped the contents of the boot outside and the poor little mouse, stunned by his flight across the kitchen, wobbled off down the boardwalk.

Now we turned our attention back to pumping water. I told Miss Brown I needed her help. I would operate the pump outside pumping from each barrel and asked her to hold the hose in the tank on the back porch making sure it stayed there as the tank filled. She was glad to help. The tank held about two hundred gallons and we had four 55 gallon barrels outside which were full from all the rain Saturday. We pumped the first barrel in without any problem. Then I started the second barrel assuming that Miss Brown was watching her end. When I went back to check after the second barrel, I discovered that Miss Brown had wandered off and I had pumped 55 gallons of water on the back porch floor! Since it would soon be time for Sunday services, we left pumping water to a later time and took care of the honey pot before people arrived for church.

Sunday afternoon, one of the men in the village who had been drinking, decided that preachers were trouble and all we wanted was money. He came down to the mission station and was beating on the outside of the house trying to get in and even making mention that he would get a gun and come after us. This continued for a number of hours. We stayed inside the house ignoring his insults and praying. When Sunday ended, we were none the worse for the wear and our loud friend had finally gone home.

Monday morning dawned bright and sunny. We gave the weather report to the mail pilot (we operated the aircraft radio for the local pilots) and let him know that he had two passengers to pick up when he made his run to Kotlik. After seeing them off, I turned my attention to my house. It was in shambles. Dirty dishes in the kitchen, water all over the back porch, wet towels where we had tried to clean it up. My girls had entertained themselves Sunday afternoon during all the commotion by going upstairs where the bedrooms were and turning their two parakeets loose. They had been loose all night—sitting in the windows up stairs and adding to the general mess. I was not sure where to start. About that time, I noticed a float plane landing in front of the house—it was Ken Andrus. For a moment, I thought he might be bringing my husband home. What a wonderful idea. I was ready to not be in charge! That thought was soon dashed as I saw that the man with him was not Jim, but one of our bosses from Springfield. Horrified, I made one fell swoop through the house stuffing and cleaning as I went.

As it turns out—Ken was taking Paul Markstrom to the hunting camp as he brought my husband back. Brother Markstrom wanted to see the Kotlik mission station, so Ken had brought him by first. I showed him all through the mission station. As he and I stood upstairs in the girl’s bedroom looking out on the back yard, at the generator house, Bro. Markstrom looked at the two generators (one was a back up). He then asked why we did not hook them in tandem so that when we needed more power the other one would automatically kick in. I did not bother to tell him that something like was much too complicated for our set up. While we were looking out the window, I couldn’t help but notice that the parakeets must have been perched in that window for some time—I’m sure Bro. Markstrom noticed as well.

As Ken and Bro. Markstrom had lunch, I tried to explain our wild weekend. Ken told me later that it really did not dawn on him all that had happened until he got home to Bethel and Miss Brown and Ronnie overnighted there while still on their way to Anchorage. During her visit at the Andrus’ house, she told them about this “wild weekend” she had just had in Kotlik.

Since that weekend, our paths have continued to cross, especially since we built the church in Kotlik and Miss Brown was one of the missionaries who followed us. Our love for the Kotlik people has provided a bond that continued until the day she died. Miss Brown will always have a very special place in our hearts. Her homegoing was truly a celebration. We know she is rejoicing at the Savior’s feet with all the people who are there because of her faithfulness. February 2005

Jim & Linda's Web Site

For More Information

A/G Churches in Alaska's Yukon Delta Area
Pastors Are Needed in Alaska
Adventures in West Alaska, 1998
Alaska District Council of the Assemblies of God

The web address of this page is www.spaciousskies.me/howard/Alaska/HarrietBrown.html

For information about Alaska churches, please contact
The Alaska District Council of the Assemblies of God
1048 West International Airport Road, Suite 101
Anchorage, Alaska 99518
(907) 562- 2247
Fax 907- 562-2352

supt@alaskaag.org

The Assemblies of God Home Page
is located at
www.ag.org

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E-mail: mmarshall@spaciousskies.me

Credits: Small snapshots of Miss B by Howard Marshall. Portrait of Miss Brown courtesy of Jim & Linda Schulz. Sources of the Forget-Me-Not flower line, background, and other graphics not known.

Marge Marshall, webmaster, mmarshall@spaciousskies.me

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