SUSAN BROWN
Carrollton nurse who found her niche in school setting
by Christy A. Robinson - Staff Writer

As a nurse in several U.S. cities, Susan Brown's comforting hand touched a variety of lives. But it was as a nurse at Polser Elementary School in Carrollton where she earned scores of young fans. Even parents would stop by the school nurse in the supermarket to say hello, said her husband Jerry Brown of Carrollton. "We couldn't go anywhere without someone pulling over and talking to us - this was even after she left Polser," he said. "She was so heavily involved in these people's lives." Ms. Brown, 43, died March 17 in Carrollton. her memorial service was at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church. A burial in Houston will be scheduled for a later date. Ms. Brown was born Jan 5, 1962, in Houston to a medically minded family. "She was around medicine all her life, so she was a perfect fit for it," her husband said. Her father, the retired Dr. Gerald Dodd of Houston, was head of diagnostic radiology at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Mr. Brown said. Her brother Dr. Gerald "Chip" Dodd Jr. is a radiologist in San Antonio. Ms. Brown earned an associate's degree in nursing from Houston Baptist University in the early 1980s and began her career at M. D. Anderson. She married Mr. Brown, a commercial photographer at the time, in 1984, and they moved to Atlanta two years later to try the job market in his field. She worked at Emory University Hospital, where she tended Billy Carter, President Jimmy Carter's brother, Mr. Brown said. "She took good care of people. She always focused on somebody else's need." her husband said. The moved to Rochester N.Y. in 1987 where she was a nurse in acute medicine at Strong Memorial Hospital for a year. Mr. Brown's career took them to Maryland, where they had two children - Avery and Taylor, now teenagers. While there, Ms. Brown worked at the University of Maryland Cancer Center. in 1991, they moved to the Detroit area, where Ms. Brown worked in oncology at Providence Hospital. Four years later they settled in Carrollton, and Ms. Brown became an oncology nurse at Zale Lipshy University Hospital in Dallas. In 1998, she became the school nurse at Polser Elementary, where her daughters attended. "The place where she had a chance to shine was at Polser," Mr. Brown said. A school nurse "not only takes care of the kids and their little things, but if the kid can't afford glasses, you try to find a place to get them glasses. She touched so many people's lives." She worked at Trinity Medical Center in Carrollton as a floor nurse from 2003 until her death. Mr. Brown races canoes, and Ms. Brown Brown had served as his coach on several occasions. She enjoyed competing in charity bicycle rides, such as the Hotter'N Hell Hundred in Wichita Falls. Mr. Brown said his wife was a little reserved around people she didn't know, but she became vivacious and effervescent in the presence of children and those familiar to her. "She brightened up a room .... She would do little goofy things and tell on herself. We'd compare her to Lucille Ball," he said. In addition to her father, her brother, her husband and two daughters, Ms. Brown is survived by her mother, Helen Dodd of Houston, sisters, Patricia Cording of Armond, Md., Barbara Dodd of Austin and Anne Britton of Pearland, Texas; and two other brothers, Michael Dodd of Houston and Thomas Dodd of Mansfield. Donations can be made to the Lance Armstrong Foundation or Habitat for Humanity.

The Dallas Morning News - Sunday, March 27, 2005 Page 7b
Submitted by Edward Lynn Williams