Loretta G. Brown

Dr. Loretta G. Brown, 93, died at home surrounded by loved ones in Gurley, Alabama on April 19. The family will receive friends at Ridout’s Valley Chapel in Homewood Alabama on Monday April 23 at noon and a life celebration service will follow at 2:00 at Valley Chapel with Dr. Larry Michael, from South Highland Presbyterian Church officiating.

Loretta is survived by her son Michael Graves Brown of Warner Robins, Georgia, her adopted family Steve and Denise Gibbs, and Morgan, Jordan, and Cameron Gibbs of Gurley, Alabama whose lives she blessed daily for many of her last years. She is also survived by loving nieces and nephews. Loretta was preceded in death by her beloved husband Robert Brown and by her son Robert David Brown.

While living in Birmingham, Loretta was an active member of the congregation at South Highland Presbyterian Church. She served her church in many ways and was particularly devoted to the Sunday Club caring deeply for those individuals who took part in this very special ministry. After joining her adoptive family in the Huntsville area, Loretta enjoyed the fellowship of Willowbrook Baptist Church where she was an active member of the Grace Class, attended weekly Wednesday night Bible study, and was a dedicated volunteer in the Great Expectations ministry. .

A Fellow of the American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA), Dr. Brown retired from the University of Montevallo in 1992 where she had served as Professor, Director of the Speech and Hearing Center, Director of the Alabama Scottish Rite Clinic for Childhood Language Disorders, and Chairperson of the Department of Communication Science and Disorders. She was instrumental in establishing the graduate programs in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and the undergraduate program in Education of the Hearing Impaired at Montevallo. She shared her passionate commitment to helping those in need with all of her students at Montevallo and the impact of her teaching, modeling, and mentoring will be felt for generations.

Dr. Brown was very active in the Speech Language Pathology profession and in a variety of other educational and community endeavors. She served as President of the Speech and Hearing Association of Alabama (SHAA), Chairperson of the Alabama Board of Examiners of Speech Pathology and Audiology (ABESPA), Legislative Councilor of ASHA, President of the Beta State of Delta Kappa Gamma Society of Women Educators, President of the Gamma Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, and President of the Birmingham Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters.

Loretta received many honors throughout her life. Some of the most meaningful honors included Honors of the Speech and Hearing Association of Alabama and Birmingham Southern Distinguished Alumna Award.

Earlier in her career, Loretta served as one of the first speech-language pathologists employed in Alabama public schools as she established a program to serve children in Anniston schools in the 1950s. She was a founding member of the Speech and Hearing Association of Alabama and helped organize efforts to write and to secure passage of the speech-language pathology and audiology licensure law in the 1970s. After coming to the University of Montevallo, she secured state funding for the construction of the Speech and Hearing Center. Loretta took absolute delight in the relationship she established with the Alabama Scottish Rite Foundation beginning in the 1970s and continuing throughout her life. This relationship helped guide and focus the philanthropic work of Alabama Scottish Rite Masons. This work continues today as Scottish Rite Masons serve children with dyslexia across our state thanks in no small part to the vision and love of Dr. Loretta Brown.

The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Loretta’s memory to the Alabama Scottish Rite Foundation at 2081 Alton Rd c, Birmingham, AL 35210 or https://alsrlcenter.org.