Who was Georgia Brown — and why is a Paso Robles school named after her?

As students head back to school in San Luis Obispo County, let’s take a moment to remember a teacher.

Specifically, let’s look at the beloved educator who lent her name to Georgia Brown Elementary School in Paso Robles.

Educators have fought for the Spanish-English dual immersion school’s campus to be remodeled — instead of shuttered completely — after reports of leaky ceilings, a persistent cockroach problem and constant plumbing issues.

However, renovation plans hit a snag after seismic studies unearthed the existence of an “anomalous feature” beneath the campus. Now the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District must determine whether to investigate the anomaly or abandon the site.

So who was Georgia Brown?

Her love of nature was incorporated into lessons long before environmental studies were a standard part of curriculum.

She raised monarch butterflies from eggs and birds flocked to feeders outside her house.

That focus on the natural world caught the imagination of students, who remembered names of the flowers and birds in their neighborhood long after childhood.

When Brown retired after a 48-year career as a teacher and principal, she had a home filled with cards from students, pictures of her pupils, teaching materials and nature study equipment.

She kept track of her former students, taking great pride in their accomplishments. They included a California state senator, Vernon Sturgeon.

Who was Paso Robles teacher Georgia Brown?

Georgia Helen Brown was born in 1882 in Coogan, Iowa. Her family moved to Orange County when she was three.

According to a Paso Robles Daily Press article published on Feb. 14, 1972, in celebration of Brown’s 90th birthday, Brown attended Los Angeles Normal School, a teaching college that’s now part of UCLA.

Her parents were both teachers and her sister Louie Sanders was a teacher at the Adelaida School for 16 years.

Brown’s teaching career began at age 21, when she was hired at Garden Grove in 1903.

Five years later, she moved to Hemet, where she taught for 12 years.

Brown was briefly out of teaching when her father bought a farm in Paso Robles and she worked as an almond huller.

However, she taught in San Miguel from 1920 to 1923.

In 1925, she earned a little over $130 a month, or $1,600 a year, according to a framed employment contract displayed in the Georgia Brown Elementary office

By the time she was recruited to Marie Bauer School in Paso Robles — Miss Brown — as she was always called, had been teaching for 20 years.

She was a pioneer in taking children on field trips and nature walks. She would point out birds, and wildflowers as they walked around the fields.

Brown’s nieces and nephews all attended Paso Robles schools.

According to a Telegram-Tribune article published on her 89th birthday, Brown retired from Paso Robles schools in June 1951 after a 48-year career dedicated to educating children

Just before she retired, she was honored by the district with a school bearing her name.

The April 6, 1949, Telegram-Tribune said the Georgia Brown Elementary School dedication ceremony was attended by 200 people and included the singing of “God Bless America” and an invocation by Rev. Paul Brown.

Several people names that would later grace schools in the Paso Robles district were active when open house was held a few days later — including George Flamson, superintendent of city schools; elementary school principal Glen Speck and Masonic lodge master Kermit King.

Another Paso Robles school namesake, Winifred Pifer, was often listed in attendance at community celebrations during that era along with Brown and others.

After her retirement, Brown remained active in the Audubon Society and Plymouth Congregational Church.

Even after she moved to a care home in Atascadero, she was seen raking leaves “because she is a very physically active person in spite of her 89 years.”

Brown died April 11, 1975, at the age of 93 and is buried in the Paso Robles District Cemetery.

More than 40 years after Brown died, she was fondly remembered by her former students.

In a November 2017 obituary, past student Marilyn Aloyce Pall McWilliams was recalled telling the story of learning to identify wildflowers “from her favorite 4th grade teacher, Georgia Brown.”

Teachers can have an impact on lives that last far beyond the classroom.

Special thanks

Janice Cannon of the El Paso de Robles Historical Society shared articles from the nonprofit’s files for this story. The museum’s “Living Legends” exhibit features the nine educators whose names are on Paso Robles schools.

Currently, Pifer is featured in the “Bearcat Alley” section of the museum.