In 1946, in the old Kendall Hall, and on the very first day of Professor Paul Alworth’s English 101 class, Patricia “Pat” Bell and Arnold Brown sat down beside each other. Alworth called Arnold to the front of the room to diagram a sentence. “He didn’t even look like he couldn’t do it,” recalled Pat. “He just couldn’t do it.”
“Of course I could draw,” said Arnold, “but I couldn’t diagram a sentence.” So, Alworth called on Pat to help him. The rest was history. The pair fell in love, marrying in 1948 and graduating in 1950 — Pat majoring in religion and education with a minor in music, and Arnold with a petroleum engineering degree.
The pair have been stalwart supporters of UTulsa since their student days. In 1980, Arnold became a member of the Board of Trustees, eventually serving as chairman from 1985 through 1987. He was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus in 1983, and is a two-time UTulsa hall of famer, having been inducted into what was then the College of Engineering & Natural Sciences Hall of Fame in 1996 and into the College of Business Hall of Fame in 2004. Pat, meanwhile, became a schoolteacher, church teacher, and private piano instructor. She continued to be active in the campus community, assisting with UTulsa Homecoming and other alumni activities.
The Browns have since retired to Montereau Senior Living Community, where they connected with Jadyn Fording, a student in the School of Music. The trio met through mutual friend, Kathy Call. “When I got back to campus for the year, I was telling the new organist, Steve Fisher, that I was living at Montereau this year,” reminisced Fording. “Kathy turned to me and said ‘Oh, I love the Montereau Program!’ She told me all about the Browns and that I had to meet them.”
Jadyn and their roommate, Lexy Harmon, are the latest pair of School of Music students to participate in the Montereau Immersion Program, following in the footsteps of former participants Jordan Demetriades, Madyson Mitchell, Chance Jackson, and Shaun Roberts. In exchange for free room and board at Montereau, the UTulsa music students interact with residents, perform concerts, and conduct open practices throughout the year. “I’ve been told so many times that I just got a ton of new grandparents,” said Fording.
They were introduced to the Browns on Labor Day and discovered that their connections run beyond a love of music — especially for Pat and Fording. “I’m studying all of the subjects that she studied, just in a different order,” said Fording. “My major is music, and I have two minors, education and philosophy & religion.”
After the trio met, Fording began making plans to play piano for the couple. In the meantime, they continue to hone their piano skills with Professor Stuart Deaver in the Pat and Arnold Brown Family Faculty Offices and Instructional Studios at the Lorton Performance Center. “You’re famous,” Fording told the couple. “You are all over the wall.”