The OB Rag received the following from Joe Flynn, a retired City Planner who worked with OB Planning Board long ago:
Going through some papers, I found a poem by LoVerne Brown that I had copied down some years ago. I know this lovely lady is long gone, but her poetry and smiling face lingers on.
Who was LoVerne Brown?
San Diego poet LoVerne Brown was a resident of Ocean Beach for 50 years (1950-2000).
Although she first won recognition for her poetry as a college student, her most productive years came after her retirement from the City of San Diego in 1974.
In 1976, she founded the Ocean Beach Poetry Circle, which for years published the anthology Zip Code 92107.
Between 1983 and 1996, LoVerne authored three volumes of poems (The View from the End of the Pier; Gathering Wine Grapes at the Hollywood Hilton, and The Under Side of Snow) and was often asked to do poetry readings.
At age 87, she was honored with the 1999 Local Author Lifetime Achievement Award, an award given annually by the San Diego Public Library to a local author for his/her body of work.
Here is the poem
Rewards of Travel
by LoVerne Brown
I’d have a lot more money
If I didn’t like to roam,
My shoes would still have heels on
If I had kept my feet at home,
I’d get a lot more work done
If I didn’t gad about,
But what delightful memories
I’d have to do without.
(Hat tip to Jonnie, Kathy and Joe)
For more on LoVerne Brown, see this 1990 San Diego Reader article.
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