Scholarship to honor Lyon’s first African-American graduate

May 16, 2005 An annual scholarship fund in memory of Lyon College’s first African-American graduate, Mitcheal O’Neal Brown, has been established by Dr. Thomas and Hazel Carpenter of Batesville. Born Jan. 9, 1946, in Batesville, Mr. Brown was the son of Crawford “Pete” Brown and Geneva Kitchens Brown. He graduated from Miller High School in Batesville and attended his first two years of college at Arkansas AM&N in Pine Bluff. After transferring to Lyon College (then Arkansas College), he served as vice president of the Student Government Association and earned his bachelor’s degree in biology. He became the first black person to graduate from Lyon in 1967 and earned his master’s degree in education at Lincoln University in Missouri. In 1964, Mr. Brown married Lois Matilda Watkins. From that union, three children were born: Celeste Brown of St. Louis, Mo.; Kelly Brown of Columbia, Mo.; and Genevra Michelle Brown Bailey of St. Charles, Mo. He has three grandchildren and two step-grandchildren. Mr. Brown worked as a school teacher and guidance counselor for several years in Booneville and New Haven, Mo. In 1970, he was awarded the Outstanding Young Educators Award and was inducted into the United States Jaycees publication of Outstanding Young Men of America. He left teaching to work as the executive director for the Job Center in Columbia, Missouri, and served on the Governor’s Commission on Social Services. On Nov. 1, 1974, he married Charlene Laudenberger in Jefferson City, Missouri. In 1974, he served on the board of directors for the Columbia Adult Basic Education Advisory Committee and the Local Area Manpower Planning Board. He also served on several community-focused committees concerned with business, mental health and youth issues.

Dr. and Mrs. Tom Carpenter and President Walter Roettger (right)

Brown changed professions and began a career with the 3M Corp., where he served as human resource manager until his retirement in June 2002. Mr. Brown died June 10, 2003, in North Hudson, Wisconsin.

Dr. Brooks Blevins, Lyon’s historian, said, “Mitcheal Brown was a model student who went about the tasks of student life in a matter-of-fact fashion, made friends, won election as vice president of the SGA (Student Government Association) in 1966, and persevered through the rare moments when the ugliness of reaction to the civil rights movement reared its head on campus.”

Dr. Carpenter is a professor of education at Lyon College and is faculty adviser to the Black Students Association on campus.

“My wife and I believe strongly that it is important to give back to the community and college that have been so good to us,” Dr. Carpenter said. “Mitcheal O’Neal Brown, the first African-American graduate of Lyon, lived in an era of firsts for blacks in America. When I spoke at his funeral two years ago after Mitcheal’s untimely death, I knew it was necessary for us to preserve his accomplishments; and what better way than to help make it possible for future generations of African-American youth who exemplify the intellectual and spiritual qualities necessary for success at Lyon to attend this great college. My wife and I look forward to continuing to work with the Brown family to raise the necessary funds to permanently endow this scholarship.”

The Mitcheal O’Neal Brown Memorial Scholarship will be awarded annually to an incoming African-American student who demonstrates the spiritual and intellectual values for success at Lyon. The award will be in the amount of $1,000 annually.

The College’s financial aid office will choose award recipients. The first scholarship recipient will be selected in fall 2005.

Anyone wishing to contribute to the scholarship fund in memory of Mr. Brown should send the contributions to Tim Bruner, vice president for institutional advancement at Lyon College, P.O. Box 2317, Batesville, AR, 72503. For more information, call  (870) 698-4211.