All posts tagged: St. Albans School

A Good Measure of a Life

Published by

Last week I was fortunate to join the most remarkable retirement celebration I’ve ever attended.  Paul Herman, the Head of the Lower School at St. Albans here in Washington (where my son is an alum), was celebrated for 44 years of service.  There are many wonderful things I can share about Paul, but I’ll stick to one example.  Each day he stands outside the school and greets every student by name, gives them a firm handshake, looks them in the eye, and offers up an encouraging word (or a reminder to tuck in a shirt tail).  If he doesn’t remember a name after the first week, he pays the student a dollar.  Suffice it to say he rarely has to pay.  Candice and I hadn’t seen Mr. Herman in at least four years, but as we were next in the receiving line he looked up and said, “Great, here come the Browns” and gave us a warm greeting.  He has an amazing gift to make people feel included and welcome. The center nave of Washington …

Never underestimate the impact one person can have on the world

Published by

(Editor’s Note:  My son, Andrew Brown, lost a very dear teacher, mentor, and friend yesterday when Ben Hutto passed away. This is the same Ben Hutto who was recently given a shout out by Stephen Colbert on one of his first Late Night shows, and the same person who was included — unbeknownst to us before we heard his name read out loud — in the Prayers of the People when we visited St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London a couple of weeks ago. Ben not only touched our family, he touched tens of thousands of people all across the globe. Ben had a love for music and life that reached so many people on so many different levels. I noted in my 60 Lessons from 60 Years (#54) that one should never underestimate the impact one person can have on the world. Ben Hutto was one of those people who touched many lives. Andrew wrote the following for Facebook, and as of this afternoon, his post was nearing 400 likes. It was just one of hundreds of posts and comments on Ben’s …