Myrna L. Brown was born and raised in the small town of Cathlamet, Washington. After earning a

bachelor’s degree in literature, she lived in West Africa as a missionary. Upon her return to the US she

became managing editor of the Valley Times newspaper in California.  She worked as editor for the Air

Force at the Onizuka Tracking Station and later moved to Washington, D.C., to work in the Pentagon as

editor of a team at the Air Force, writing annual reports to the US Congress. 

Brown’s work has focused on helping women gaining independence and the ability to sustain their

families. She’s had a strong commitment to the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and

served as president of the AAUW Fairfax City Branch and on the national board of the AAUW

Educational Foundation. For 20 years Brown served on the board of the Virginian Gildersleeve

International Fund (recently renamed Women First), which provides grants globally to fund locally-

generated projects that advance the rights of women and girls.

At age 50, Brown earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from George Mason University. After being a

floor nurse in a major Fairfax, Virginia hospital, she became a hospice nurse.

Brown is the mother of three daughters, one of whom is deceased. She retired to Wilmington, North

Carolina, with her husband, Denis Brown, now deceased. There they sponsored the projects Medicine

for Mali and A Safe Place. She now lives near family in San Diego, California, where she volunteers for

the Assistance League of Greater San Diego.

Brown began her writing career at the age of 70, and her life’s essence is captured in many of her

stories. Myrna L. Brown is the author of Of Unseen Things Above, A Season of Mists, Side Effects, A

People at the Source of a River, The Chair Beside the Bed, and Harold’s Field.