LEADING LADIES OF BROWNWOOD: NANCY ANDERSON

Written by Ben Cox– BrownwoodNews.com would like to offer a “tip of our cap” to a selection of women in town that have made a positive impact on the lives of those around them. Whether by profession, or pastime, these community leaders contribute a rich part to the fabric of Brownwood, and we feel they deserve to have their time in the spot light. We present to you, The Leading Ladies of Brownwood. This week’s leading lady is: Nancy Anderson.

I sat down with Nancy and asked her our list of questions that each Leading Lady will be asked, with a few off the cuff questions specifically for her, and here are her responses.

• What is your current profession/What do you do?
  • I’m a retired teacher, missing the classroom. (To a certain extent!) I’m enjoying my retirement, I waited long enough that I was semi-ready. But, I miss the kids. I miss that contact. I bought into that whole thing about teachers touching the future, so it’s still a real boost for me when I’m out in the community and have one of my kids say “Oh, I’m still doing…” or “I still have…” I had a senior tell me “I read the Iliad because you” and I hadn’t read it! I taught it, we did a modified version of it, but he read the real thing. And I’ve had kids tell me “I’m hooked on those logic problems you taught us’ and so I feel like I really did make waves that continue. So I am retired, but looking back with pride.
• What clubs or organizations are you a member of locally?
  • I’m not in a lot of clubs. Primarily I’m on the Arts Council for Brownwood. And I have been in that on and off for probably 18 or 19 years. And I feel very strongly about what the Arts Council does. I’ve served as the chair, vice chair, and secretary. Never treasurer, I don’t want to mess with money! (laughs). I love the Cinco de Mayo that we have been doing. We’ve done three now, so for the last three years that has been one of my major focuses. Because of the Arts Council I also have lead-ins to the Lyric, to the Arts Center, to the Painting with Friends. I’m very active in those kids of things. And also with bringing entertainers into the schools from out of town. I’m also in the Hospital Auxiliary, I do book club and go to lunch with them. I do another book club through 1st Presbyterian, and I’m also a friend of the Library and volunteer at their functions. And I’m active in my church, I go to St Mary’s. I stepped up and filled out half a year as the leader for the youth group when there was a need and I plan to continue to help. I’ll be the grandmother for the group! (laughs)
• Where were you born? Where did you grow up?
  • I was born in Rockford Illinois, and I grew up primarily in Rockford but once I left I never went back. I graduated high school at 18, went to Northern Illinois University, got married at 21 to a guy who had just gotten out of the Air Force and we travelled all over. We lived in Salt Lake City Utah, we lived in New York, Wisconsin, Missouri, Lubbock and then from Lubbock we went to Michigan and then arrived here.
• What got you to Brownwood?
  • My husband at the time had taken a position in Brady at LoadCraft, and we looked at both communities and felt Brownwood was a much better fit for our family.
• What are some of your fondest memories of childhood?
  • My dad was 1 of 10 children, eight of them surviving, and they all pretty much lived in Rockford. So I grew up with cousins and aunts and uncles. We are Polish and we had an unusual last name (Koteski), so if you said your last name and someone went “Oh, I know…” then they were (one of) us! I was so blessed. In 4th grade my best friend was my cousin Linda. In 5th grade my best friend was my other cousin Linda. And in then in 7th and 8th grade my OTHER cousin Linda! (laughs)
• When did you make it to Texas?
  • 1981. Tracy was 2 when we moved to Lubbock, and we lived there for 7 years, then we went to Michigan and I think we were there for a year and a half. Then the opportunity in Brady came up and it was something he’d (ex-husband) always wanted so we moved here.
• Who left a lasting impression upon you that still is with you today?
  • My first grade teacher, Ms Dix. Because she saw me as somebody who was smart. And she turned me onto school and learning and to reading. I’m an avid reader. She let me be the first one to go to the bookmobile, I was the only 1st grader allowed to go until the others caught up. I remember I had books checked out and they got left at school somehow on the last day because I thought they had to be returned. And she brought those books to my house and said the bookmobile would come to the school during the summer. I was six and I just remember that and think it was so special.  I also had an aunt, she was what they called a “Maiden Aunt”, she stayed single to take care of grandma. Aunt Rose was such a talented woman. She made clothes for me and taught me how to sew. She taught me how to tap into creativity and that you don’t have to have book learning and classes, you just have to have the want to and the patience to develop it. It just takes a little bit of time. She was someone significant in my life.
• What do you hope your legacy will be?
  • I hope that my legacy will be that people will say that I was a positive impact in their lives. That there was a lasting impression, and that it was a kind impression. Either a passion that I awakened or just a general acceptance from a smile or something. I want to think that when people hear my name, and I’m gone, they’ll smile. Or say ‘Oh yeah, I remember…!’ That kind of underlying excitement. I can’t think of anything better.
• What is 1 lesson that you would like your to students to have taken with them into adulthood?
  • (about her children) I hope they learned them!! (laughs) That the world is kinda cool. That it’s worth exploring. It’s worth trying things out that you haven’t done before. You have common sense and and you’ve got background, and you can apply that, so you’re not gonna be in danger. Take advantage of opportunities when they come, don’t just jump recklessly, but reason things out and then enjoy it. And, people are basically kind. DO NOT put them down. No matter what their station in life is, they’re basically good people. And I think that is something that everyone needs to know. Everybody you meet has something that you will be able to take away from the relationship, or the meeting, or the encounter even, as brief as it may be.
• Why?
  • I’m a people person, and I think we are not designed to be alone. We are designed to work together, to build off of each other, to enhance each other. And that we do our best when we have others who assist us, who inspire us, who challenge us. I think those things all work to make us better people.
• How has living in Brownwood shaped your life?
  • One of the coolest things about living in Brownwood is that it’s ok to have a faith in God and express it. And even teaching in public schools, I mean we can’t introduce that or anything like that, but if the kids did we could respond and it would be ok. We would be supported by leadership and others in town. I think it helped to reinforce values in my children. I think the richness of the churches and all the different faiths we have in town, I think that is one of Brownwood’s biggest assets.
• If you could speak to yourself as a High School freshman, what would you say to yourself?
  • It’s gonna be okay. I was such a mess! (laughs) I grew up feeling that I was ugly and clumsy, so I made up my mind that I was going to be nice and smart because those were things I could control. (laughs) I worried about that kinda stuff and always felt inadequate. So, I’d tell myself that it’ll be okay.
• What is one goal for yourself or your family that you haven’t achieved yet?
  • I don’t guess that I have a GOAL, there’s a bucket list, but that’s different. There are things that I would like to do, but there is no big encompassing goal. My children have all graduated from college and have careers. They’re married and have families and are successful. I’m thrilled to death about that. I can’t ask for anything better, and I think that’s probably the goal of every parent that you can at least get them that far. Now do they RECOGNIZE that I did that?… Probably not!! (laughs!)
• How do you feel you have impacted Brownwood?
  • I think, because I worked in the school, I impacted a lot of students to kind of love learning and realize that learning isn’t just what you get in books. That it’s passions you develop and take with you for the rest of your life. Because some of those kids were inspired, it spills over into the families and they share in the joys and successes that the kids have. So I guess its a bit more personal. I haven’t left a big monument or anything like that, but it’s always been something that’s been important to me.
• What is one thing you’d like to see for the future of Brownwood?
  • I’d like to see an indoor swimming pool. We have so much of an aging population, and once the pools close there is nowhere for people to go who need water as their exercise venue. The one indoor pool we have is small, and it’s a diving pool, so it’s too deep for water aerobics. That being said, I think our parks and recreation are really improving. The splash pads are the most awesome thing to hit Brownwood in the time I’ve been here. They’re just wonderful. I’d like to see benches for the parents who are supervising their kids so they don’t need to haul lawn chairs. Also, I wish the city would consider having beginning bridge, beginning knitting, how to upholster and classes like that. I would like to see us branch into that.
• What makes you proud to live in Brownwood?
  • The people. The people in Brownwood have heart and are not afraid to show it. When someone is injured there’s an immediate fund raiser and a brisket or something. Or the plea goes out ‘we need clothes’ and this is the sizes we need, and they DO it. People rally and I’m just so proud to be associated with a community like that. I told my children that I would not have been able to raise them without a community like Brownwood who cared and knew that I was parent who cared. Yeah, they reported back and squealed on them sometimes, but that’s one of the things you want is a community that cares and that’s Brownwood.
• What does it mean to you to be considered one of the “Leading Ladies of Brownwood?”
  • What an honor, I feel like I haven’t done enough and I need to do more to earn a title like that, which is so significant to me. It’s nice to be recognized that I’m trying to make our community better, even though I didn’t come to it by birth! It’s inspiration to continue doing what I’m doing, to try to build more community and build things that are going to benefit the majority of the people of the city.