Curriculum Vitae

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Rev. Mary Kennedy Brown
5221 Annunciation Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70115
Birth Year: 1952
Email: mbrown8@bu.edu, maryps121@aol.com

If curriculum vitae literally means “the course of (one’s) life,” for me it would not be a listing of positions, publications, accomplishments, and scholarly or technical qualifications. It would be a listing of the dangers, traumas, and challenges that God has brought me through; it would be offered for the purpose of testifying and proclaiming that the Lord is still working and that God doesn’t love me more than anyone else. Here is my curriculum vitae:

I was born in Puerto Rico where my parents, an interracial couple, fled after they were threatened by my father’s uncle. From 1955 to 1964 we lived in the jungles of Liberia, West Africa, where my parents were missionaries (except one year when we were home on furlough). I was sexually abused as a young child by my father and by one of the older students on the mission. While we were stateside on furlough, I was badly burned in an explosion and spent a month in the hospital. 

As an adult, I lived through two home invasions. I was manipulated and scammed to the point that I ended up homeless in New Orleans. I have known years of scarcity and deep financial insecurity; I survived nine months of chemotherapy for non-Hodgkins lymphoma and an IV tube lodged in my heart. I watched my husband of almost 30 years die from Alzheimer’s, and I was devastated by learning that my father also abused my beloved offspring, 40 years after he abused me.   

And yet, here I am. By the grace of God, the above two paragraphs do not represent the entirety of my life. With God’s help and through God’s word I am a survivor, and I am more than a conqueror. I am still learning and growing, enjoying increased agency and freedom. At age 72 I am happier and more whole than I have ever been. I’m developing exciting emotional skills that are new to me and—glory be to God—I am firm in the conviction that the best is yet to come. Amen. So be it, for me and for you.