The decorated St. Augustine resident (recipient of the Berry College Distinguished Service Award and 4-H Lifetime Achievement Award, just to name a couple) devoted her life to mentoring young people and tirelessly participating in community outreach.
“Wherever Nettie went, she wanted everybody involved,” said Nettie’s sister, Gail Brown. “It didn’t matter where you came from or who you were, she always wanted everybody to be together.”
After passing in 2023, Brown willed her home on 141 Oviedo Street to Flagler College in a posthumous gesture of continued community support. The home will now be used to house visiting faculty in residence and staff in need.
A Blessing to All Who Worked with Her
Brown moved to St. Augustine in 1960, where she served as the acting extension director of St. Johns County, St. Johns County extension home economist, and the St. Johns County 4-H youth program leader.
As somebody dedicated to helping young people succeed, Brown particularly loved her work for 4-H, whose mission is to promote youth development. She continued to volunteer and mentor local children and teens even in her retirement.
“She had a mother’s heart,” Gail Brown said. “She loved those 4-H kids like they were her own, and in her heart, they were her kids.”
Nettie also served extensively as president or chairman of numerous local organizations, including the Florida Association of State 4-H Agents, St. Johns County American Cancer Society, Friends of the Library, Beta Sigma Phi, the St. Augustine Pilot Club, and the Poinsettia Circle Garden Club. She further served as President of the National Association of Extension Home Economists.
Her devotion to the St. Augustine community is fondly remembered.
“She always taught us to do our best,” said Jim Browning, 71.
Browning met Brown when he was in fifth grade in his school’s 4-H Program.
“I never heard her say a negative word in a negative tone,” he said sixty years later. “It was always: ‘You can do better.’ All of us who got to work with her were blessed.”
In at the Ground Floor: Nettie at Flagler
According to her former secretary, Cheryl Manucy, Brown was in “at the ground floor” when Flagler College was established in 1968. Ever the champion of youth education, Brown was filled with pride to see the College’s entry into St. Augustine, especially when it transitioned from a women-only institution to co-ed.
“When they started the College, it was mainly girls, and they all came from up north from wealthy families,” Manucy said. “That was beyond most of the people here. So she was very pleased when they expanded their curriculum. She was happy to see it.”
Brown eventually became so involved with the College that if any of her “kids” expressed an interest in Flagler, she would put them in touch with the right people to help them apply. She would even write letters of recommendation for prospective students.
Perhaps Brown’s most significant bond to Flagler, though, took the form of students who simply passed her home on their way to and from class. Often, these young people would take her garbage cans in or perform routine yard work. Such small gestures touched Brown, and she frequently enthused about Flagler students’ kindness to her family.
Eventually, Brown’s home became the site of many neighborly relationships with passing Saints, and she decided it would best survive her as a facility dedicated to new generations of the Flagler community when she was no longer there.
“Nettie loved the College, and she loved the people,” her sister said. “She knew there would be people who needed a place to live, and she wanted to leave something behind that would help them.”
A Second Life
Brown’s home on 141 Oviedo Street will now continue her lifetime legacy of giving, enjoying a second life as the Nettie Ruth Brown Faculty and Staff Cottage. The repurposed dwelling will open in the Fall of 2025 and will provide significant aid to Faculty Scholars in Residence as well as new employees in need.
“Especially in these times, affordable housing is essential to recruiting and retaining high-value faculty,” said Vice President of Academic Affairs, Art Vanden Houten. “Ms. Brown’s generous bequest will help us provide a resource that is lacking on many campuses across the country while also bridging the affordability gap for incoming faculty and staff. We are extremely grateful for her investment.”
As a longtime supporter of the College, Brown has always been instrumental in pushing Flagler Forward. Now, her final gift will stand as a monument to her long life’s work: providing shelter, helping those in need, and advancing Flagler’s educational mission in the St. Augustine community.
When Manucy learned that Nettie had donated her home to the College, she wasn’t surprised at all.
“That’s Ms. Brown,” Manucy said. “She was always so generous when it came to anything that had to do with education.”
For more information on moving Flagler Forward through an estate gift, please visit https://www.flagler.edu/flagler-forward or contact Nicole Pece, Director of Development & Gift Planning, at 904-819-6406.
