The “Indomitable Spirit” of Geri Brown
Warren Village is proud to celebrate Black History Month!
Black families have been part of Warren Village’s story for over 50 years as residents, as staff, as alumni, and as leaders. Many are re-writing the history of their families in real time, and we celebrate their perseverance and brilliance while overcoming systemic barriers.
Today, everyone who walks through the entrance at Warren Village’s Gilpin campus passes by a smiling portrait of Geri Brown near the front desk.
But perhaps not everyone knows the depth of impact of her leadership and how she set the standard of the work we do every day.
Geri Brown was our director of Family Services from 1994-1998, and a family advocate, board member, and volunteer in the decades before.
Much of what the Family Services program we use today was designed and developed with Geri’s visionary dreams.
Geri’s Vision
Before her career at Warren Village, Geri worked her way to upper management at Western Electric. One of her priorities throughout her time there was to recruit minorities for employment.
For many years a single parent herself, Geri dreamed of establishing a single parents program based on her experiences growing up in a disadvantaged west Philadelphia neighborhood. Her idea was to design a program which provided various services to promote family self-sufficiency.
When she discovered that Warren Village shared her goals, she became an avid volunteer. Eventually, she became a family advocate herself, before eventually becoming our Director of Family Services in 1994.
“All my children”
Residents and alumni, to Geri, were known as “all my children.” She was known for guiding single parents with a signature mixture of caring, wit and tough love.
Said Tina Goeden, one of Geri’s clients at Warren Village: “Geri taught me it was impossible to achieve your wildest dreams if you cannot take of yourself and your family first. It was a lesson I had to learn time and time again, and Geri dished it up to me with discipline and her unwavering example of strength. Geri has helped me grow, encouraged me to become greater than I have ever imagined. Geri taught me that to be responsible and mature and goal-oriented is to be successful.”
In 1996, in recognition of her accomplishments, Mayor Wellington Webb appointed Geri to Denver’s Commission on Housing.
In November 1997, Geri flew to Washington D.C. with Warren Village’s Executive Director, Susan France, to accept the prestigious Metropolitan Life Foundation’s National Award for Excellence in Affordable Housing. Just the day before, doctors had told her that surgery she had previously undergone had not helped as hoped, and that she needed to start treatment immediately.
Geri, however, had her own priorities and was determined she would go to Washington to accept the award instead. Her resolve took her doctors aback and astonished them — but not the people who knew her.
Jo Ann Marsh, former WV administrator, noted that Geri had an “indomitable spirit.” This month and every month, we celebrate Geri’s work to improve our organization and for setting the foundation for countless individuals.
We recognize and celebrate all of the single-parent Black families in our history and today who have worked against systemic barriers to achieve better lives for their families.
This story was excerpted from the Fall 1998 edition of the Villager newsletter. To read the whole pdf of Geri’s story and obituary, click here for page one and here for page 2!
