Team To Remember Former CA President at Howard County's Relay For Life

While many women shrink from wearing extremely high heels or at least whimper from the pain of donning them, former Columbia Association President Maggie Brown rose to the challenge.

“My mother could go all day and all night in her four-inch heels,” stated Ms. Brown’s daughter, Dr. Angela Brown, in a January 30, 2010 article in the Baltimore Sun.

“She would wear stiletto heels everywhere except to play golf,” said Janet Loughran, Ms. Brown’s Executive Assistant at CA for three years. “They became her trademark.”

A giant, pink version of Ms. Brown’s “trademark” will be on display at this year’s Howard County Relay For Life on June 4 at Hammond High School in Columbia. The 14-foot high shoe will pay tribute to the beloved Ms. Brown, who died of a brain tumor on January 28, 2010, at the age of 70. Ms. Brown rode in this “shoe float” during local parades.

Ms. Brown is remembered for much more than her affinity for heels. She was known for her calm presence at CA’s helm after the previous president was ousted under turbulent conditions; her love of Columbia; her cheerful demeanor; and her upbeat personality.

Ms. Brown became Sales Manager of CA’s Membership Service Center in 1982. After leaving CA for five years to serve Howard County Executives Elizabeth Bobo and Charles Ecker, Ms. Brown returned to CA in 1993 as the Division Director of Community Services. In 2001, she became the first African-American to run CA, a $60-million a year operation that provides recreation services for about 100,000 people and manages Columbia’s parks and open spaces. She left office on April 30, 2009.

After her death, CA released a statement that read in part, “Maggie was the voice of reason and compromise, the spirit of caring and compassion, an advocate of equality, and a positive force for the future. Though small in stature, her presence filled a room.”

CA’s Relay For Life team, aptly called “Columbia Association,” formed this year after Laura Smit, Program Manager for CA’s International Exchange and Multicultural Programs, and Barbara Kellner, Manager of the Columbia Archives, realized they had recently lost many dear relatives and friends, including Ms. Brown, to cancer.

“We felt it would be a nice year to start a team in memory of Maggie Brown, to have more of a presence in the community, and to function as a team-building unit for people in CA’s different divisions,” said Ms. Smit, who serves as captain of CA’s team.

“Every other big, local organization is represented at Relay,” said Ms. Kellner. “We wanted CA to be represented too.”

The team came up with the idea to bring Ms. Brown’s float to Relay at a team meeting, and it seemed like a good thing – the right thing to do, according to Ms. Smit and Ms. Kellner.

The shoe was built three years ago for Ms. Brown to ride in during a Columbia Festival of the Arts parade. Ms. Brown took a picture someone had apparently seen in a magazine of a pink shoe being pulled by a motorcycle-like conveyance to Dan D’Amore, Assistant Director for CA’s Open Space Management. Ms. Brown asked Mr. D’Amore if there was any way something like it could be built for her to ride. “She wanted something more creative than the back of a convertible to ride in during parades,” said Mr. D’Amore. “The task was challenging and took ingenuity and creativity.”

About four CA workers built the shoe from wood and added a big, black ribbon across the shoe’s toe area. During parades, the shoe was set on a 20-foot trailer and pulled by a CA truck while a dolled-to-the hilt Ms. Brown sat on carpeted steps inside the shoe and waved to people. In case the ride got bumpy, Ms. Brown had a handle to grab – one never knows when high heels will cause a spill. Finishing touches included potted plants and flowers along the sides of the shoe and a sign behind the heel that read, “Maggie and Columbia Fit Like a Good Shoe.”

CA, which had 10 Relay team members and had raised $1,635 as of May 4, will wear T-Shirts at Relay that the team designed and had printed. The T-Shirts will have images of the pink shoe and will bear the team’s slogan, “Remembering and honoring family and friends who have battled cancer.”

No one can fill the enormous shoes of Maggie Brown or anyone else lost to cancer, but, thanks to Relay, friends and relatives on teams like CA will beat a path to find a cure for cancer in memory of their loved ones.

Opening Ceremonies for Howard County’s Relay For Life will begin at 6:30 p.m. June 4 at Hammond High School in Columbia. For more information , call 410-781-4316, e-mail hcrelay@hotmail.com or visit the website www.howardrfl.com.