Serving others is in Cecelia Brown’s DNA. “I knew of her before I knew her, because you couldn’t name anything that her name didn’t come up or her momma’s name came up,” declared friend and fellow St. Paul, Portsmouth, parishioner Noel McCue. “She’s a pillar of our church.”
“What inspires me about her is it seems like [volunteerism] is their legacy,” McCue said. “[Serving others] is in the family. It’s in her blood. It’s in her genes.”
Brown’s exemplary service earned her a place in Portsmouth Catholic Alumni Relations Committee’s Circle of Saints. The annual honor is bestowed upon alumni of Portsmouth Catholic education or someone with close ties to it “who lives a life of faith, knowledge and service in a spirit of excellence,” explained Donna Henry, coordinator of the award and principal of Portsmouth Catholic Regional School (PCRS), where Brown received the tribute March 7 at the school’s Supporter’s Breakfast.
Brown, a cradle Catholic and one of nine children, credits her dedication to her parents, who volunteered often, her volunteer experience at Project Head Start one summer when she was 13, and her childhood church and school.
Brown attended Our Lady of Victory (OLV) School, Portsmouth, until sixth grade, was in the first integrated class at St. Paul School when she was in seventh grade and graduated from Portsmouth Catholic High School in 1969 at the age of 16 because she skipped first grade.
“I am proud to have had a strong beginning at Our Lady of Victory Church and School. That is where our spirit of community, outreach and ministry began,” she said, adding that the teachers gave them the “confidence [to] go out into the world and become the best people that we could be.”
Brown said OLV School and parish were “a tightknit community [where] everybody knew everybody.” The school and parish closed during integration in 1964 and 1965, respectively. OLV parishioners had to transfer to white churches for which their neighborhoods were zoned. At their new parishes, Black parishioners could not hold liturgical roles or join the Knights of Columbus.
“Here we are 60 years later, and things are different. Things are better,” she said. “I think we just found our roles in the parishes. We don’t take anything as being off limits to us.”
Brown has served St. Paul as a reader, Eucharistic minister, catechist and parish council member. She was on the Justice and Peace Committee, Haiti Committee and helped with resettlement of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugee families. She helped establish the Cluster Assistance Ministry through which the parishes work with the diocesan Fuel and Hunger Fund to help those in need. This includes assistance with rent and utility bills and sometimes an overnight hotel stay for homeless individuals.
Brown was secretary of the Parent Teacher Association at Portsmouth Catholic Elementary School and was on the combined school board for Portsmouth Catholic Elementary School and Portsmouth Catholic High School, both of which are now closed.
She helped the greater community by volunteering with the Chesapeake Care Clinic (which offers medical care for low-income individuals), Meals on Wheels, and the local Catholic Deaf community.
“She’s always willing to put forth the effort and compassion and empathy. She’s always willing to take the helm,” said Celestine Scott Aden, president of the OLV Alumni Association.
Brown said that her husband, Joseph Brown, Jr., often volunteers by her side and that she brought her son and her daughter with her as children when she volunteered.
“They learned a lot from it as far as kindness, service and being helpful and supportive,” said Brown. “Both of my children serve the community now. My son is a first sergeant with the Virginia State Police. My daughter works in social services.”
Brown also reaches out to people on an individual basis. Vernissa Thomas said she interned in 1992 as a medical transcriptionist at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, where Brown worked for more than 30 years. One day when she asked Brown for gas money, Brown took her out to lunch, saying “if you can’t afford gas, you can’t afford food,” and gave Thomas money for both.
“I don’t know that I would know the love of God in the way that I do now – the complete, whole love of God – if I had never met Cecelia Brown,” Thomas said. “Her faith is something that I’ve never seen demonstrated in anybody else.”
Despite so many volunteer efforts, Brown said her greatest honor was caring for her mother and sister when they were sick – “just being present for them, just being able to advocate for their care … right up to the moments of their death.”
Posthumous honor
Mary Elizabeth “Mae” Cunningham Wakefield, who died in 2012, became the first person honored posthumously into the Circle of Saints March 7.
Donna Henry, coordinator of the Circle of Saints award and principal of Portsmouth Catholic Regional School, said honoring Wakefield reflects her historical value and contributions.
Denyse O’Connor, a family friend, said Wakefield was “the most vibrant, outgoing, cheerful person I think I’ve ever met.”
Her grandniece Mary Beth Rhodes described Wakefield as “feisty” and “generous to a fault.”
“She would do anything for anybody, give the shirt off her back, basically,” Rhodes said. “She liked taking care of people, and she loved children.”
Wakefield served in numerous organizations, often as an officer. She was an active member of Portsmouth Catholic Alumni Association and the parish council at St. Paul, Portsmouth. She was the St. Paul social committee chairman for many years and was a 68-year member of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Knights of Columbus, St. Paul’s Council #418.
Rhodes said Wakefield, one of five children, was like a grandmother to her because she helped raise her mother, Mary Ann Manning Viola, and was very involved in Rhodes’ life.
Wakefield worked until she was 90 years old, Rhodes said.
“She definitely lived life to the fullest,” she added. “She never met a stranger, and she had an amazing way of making you feel loved from the moment she met you.”