Kevin Michael Brown

About me:

I was born in Detroit - May 7, 1949 at Providence Hospital. I was baptized James Joseph Finnegan. I was adopted in Nov. 49 by Dr. Richard C. & Eileen R. Brown and brought to Owosso. I went to kindergarten at Central School (Oliver/Shiawassee-M52). 1st - 5th at St. Paul, back to Central to finish 5th (didn't get along with nuns), 6th & 7th. Boarding School at Searcy, Arkansas for 8th grade. 9th & 10th at Assumption College High School, Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Hated it and being away from friends, etc. in Owosso! Straight A’s 9th grade, didn’t get me home, FLUNKED OUT Repeated 10th, finished 11th and 12th, at St. Paul, Owosso, graduating 1968. 1968 - Convinced local Selective Service Board, Shiawassee County, that I did not believe in war, was "granted" Conscientious Objector Status and then flunked physical. 1969 - Managed to finish one semester/term at LCC, "Sociology", before dropping out to go to work for the United Farm Workers, AFL-CIO, Grape Boycott in Detroit. Moved to California, Oct. 70, after grape contracts were signed. Worked for awhile, organizing lettuce workers in Salinas and Watsonville. Was asked to join the security team, guarding Cesar Estrada Chavez. Stayed with the organization until 1973 (am currently involved with about 300 other former volunteers in writing a Documentation Project of the union of the years 1962-1993). See http://www.farmworkermovement.org/ for a story of my time with UFW While bodyguard for Cesar, worked hard on 1972 elections, met McGovern and teamed with Secret Service when he visited Cesar in Phoenix, where he was fasting. 1973, I was hired by Catholic Youth Organization in San Jose to run a youth/community center in the barrio, since I was good with kids and spoke Spanish. Fired by new director in 1976, moved to Dinuba and lived with the farm worker family I had lived/worked with in Detroit and helped found a co-op farm and store run/owned by farm workers. Joined the Navy in 1977, old "GI Bill" was ending and I needed a formal education. Became a hospital corpsman and served with the US Marines, proudly. Jimmy Carter was my only "Commander-In-Chief" as we served to the day, the exact same time! He was USN, too, and I believe the most excellent EX President ever! Got out in 1982 and spent that year coming to grips with, understanding and accepting my sexual orientation. I was 32. Spent all of 1982 trying to find a "home". Lived/set up residence in: Owosso, MI, Dinuba, Santa Cruz, Mountain View, San Francisco and San Diego, Ca. Exhausted, I was to stay (for the most part) until 1994. Challenged California LVN (Licensed Vocational Nurse) exam and spent the next years working (for the most part) for temporary agencies, mostly in Psychiatric In-Patient facilities, mostly for San Diego County Mental Health and in home care and extended care. Also worked extensively with HIV/AIDS causes and patients (remember this was at the beginning of the disaster!) During that period, I (and my husband, Tony - he died 4/19/91)also lived in Fredericksburg, VA (his dad committed suicide Halloween 87), Washington, D.C., Ringgold, GA, and Chattanooga, TN, trying to help his mom. We moved back to San Diego when we realized there wasn't much we could do. She followed us there in 1990! Have been back in Owosso since 94, with a 9 month trip back to San Diego in 1996. State of Michigan Board of Nursing wouldn’t accept my CA license or training, said I had to go back and start from scratch, taking MICHIGAN nursing course work! Did go back to school, but NOT in nursing! Got my A.S. in Business, Computer Information Systems, Baker College, Owosso, 2002! I work for Shiawassee County Community Mental Health Authority .. been with the agency since Nov. 1996. Let me know if you want to know more about my lengthy and crazy life.