September 9, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 155 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Pages S5507-S5508]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING KATHY BROWN

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I rise today to remember one of 
Wyoming's most accomplished and beloved journalists. On Wednesday, 
August 12, 2020, Kathleen ``Kathy'' Suzanne Brown passed away at the 
age of 64. In her nearly 40 years as a reporter at the Gillette News 
Record, Kathy had a profound impact on communities across northeast 
Wyoming.
  Kathy spent more than 20 years of her time at the News Record as a 
sports reporter. She was notably the only female sports reporter in the 
State for most of that time. Kathy was known for being an extremely 
thorough reporter. She went above and beyond to profile a majority of 
Campbell County's student athletes, whether or not they were the star 
player.
  When Kathy transitioned to being an education reporter in 2012, I 
often had the privilege of speaking with her on my regular visits to 
classrooms around Gillette. Kathy was a true professional, and it was 
abundantly clear how much she cared for the students she wrote about.
  Her dedication to journalistic excellence was recognized statewide on 
multiple occasions. One of the biggest highlights of her career came in 
2016, when the Wyoming Press Association named her its Veteran 
Journalist of the Year. Kathy was also recognized by the Campbell 
County School District, the Energy Classic Committee, the Wyoming 
Education Association, and the Wyoming Historical Society for her 
excellent work.
  While her passing leaves a huge void in the Wyoming journalism 
community, her legacy lives on through her more than four decades long 
record of compelling and insightful stories.
  Bobbi and I send our deepest condolences to Kathy's mother, Shirley

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Brown; brothers, Tim, Ben, and John, as well as her newspaper family at 
the Gillette News Record.
  On August 14, 2020, Gillette News Record publisher and editor Ann 
Turner published a moving tribute to Kathy on behalf of the entire News 
Record staff who knew Kathy best. Ann's sentiments are shared by so 
many in Gillette and Wyoming's journalism community. I ask unanimous 
consent that this article be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

            [From the Gillette News Record, August 14, 2020]

                 Longtime NR Reporter Kathy Brown Dies

                            (By Ann Turner)

       Few people in a community have the privilege of 
     intersecting with so many lives as a reporter.
       No one in Gillette has done it recently as long and as well 
     as Kathy Brown, who was a reporter for the News Record for 37 
     years.
       ``KB,'' as we called her, died Wednesday night in Casper at 
     the Central Wyoming Hospice and Transitions of complications 
     from cancer, a disease she had valiantly fought for the past 
     13 months. She was 64.
       She had retired from the News Record in March after working 
     as a journalist for 41 years.
       In a perfect world, there would have been a proper send-
     off, a party or an open house to properly acknowledge the 
     decades that she devoted to this community. Instead, we faced 
     a national shutdown aimed at protecting everyone from the 
     COVID-19 pandemic, but particularly those like KB whose 
     health was compromised by cancer and the chemotherapy she 
     undertook to try to beat it.
       She restarted the chemo after a much-too-short remission 
     and was bound and determined to beat it.
       In a perfect world, she would have beat it. In a perfect 
     world, there would have been more stories that she could have 
     written about all of you, her favorite people. In a perfect 
     world, she would have enjoyed her retirement.
       But the world is not perfect.
       Today, we honor her with a front-page obituary, not because 
     she would have wanted it--indeed she would have been appalled 
     at the attention.
       We do so because she deserves it.
       In Gillette, she spent more than 20 years as a sports 
     reporter, and in those years covered thousands of young 
     athletes in the school system as well as younger and older 
     ones in different athletic pursuits.
       Kathy was the sole sports reporter at the News Record--and 
     the only female sports reporter in the state--for most of 
     that time. No one worked longer and harder than she did 
     because she was committed not just to her job, but to the 
     kids.
       She made an effort to talk to every single athlete on a 
     team--not just the stars, but every single one. She tried to 
     make sure that they appeared in a story over the course of a 
     season because she believed that each one of them deserved 
     attention as part of the team. Each athlete, competing alone 
     or on a team, had a story that deserved to be told.
       A criticism that haunted her most would be those that came 
     from some disgruntled parent who thought she was giving one 
     player too much attention. In sports coverage, it's hard to 
     ignore the stars. But her admiration often was focused on 
     those whose efforts were just as noteworthy, if not as 
     splashy.
       ``Always talk to those involved in events, not just a coach 
     or teacher,'' she wrote in notes she handed out to younger 
     journalists who wanted to listen to her advice. ``You can use 
     the coach or teacher's comments to build on what you're 
     writing, but the athletes or the students are the ones who 
     are involved in it. They have a lot to say, too, and 
     shouldn't be ignored.''
       In 2012, she moved from the sports beat to education and 
     the community section. The move was made for health reasons, 
     but she ended up working just as hard covering those beats as 
     she did sports.
       She was a prolific writer and still holds the byline record 
     at the News Record. There was never a topic too small, but 
     there were some that she could write reams about, usually 
     involving her love of history, particularly local or Western 
     history.
       She once decided to write about the Pumpkin Buttes, a story 
     that originally was supposed to anchor the front page.
       She wrote so much that it ended up being a special section.
       That was true of the Recreation Center when it opened 10 
     years ago. The story was supposed to be a comprehensive look 
     at what the new facility was like.
       It ended up being a 28-page special section with multiple 
     stories, all written in a very short amount of time by KB.
       In both of those cases, just like with most stories she 
     wrote, she approached them with an enthusiasm that is rare.
       ``I'm sucking the life out of this interview in three 
     different ways,'' she once said about an interview with one 
     of the National High School Finals Rodeo contestants.
       She loved journalism because no two days are alike. ``Every 
     day is a new adventure,'' she said in 2017.
       She also loved it because it put her smack-dab in the 
     middle of people and their stories, which is where she liked 
     to be.
       ``I really feel it's a privilege to cover the stories of 
     the people in Campbell County and to be able to tell about 
     their lives,'' she said.
       She has been honored many times for her reporting and her 
     leadership. Three years ago, she was chosen as Veteran 
     Journalist of the Year by the Wyoming Press Association, an 
     occasion that made her reflect on her career, as well as to 
     find humor in the ``veteran'' part of the name.
       ``Heck,'' she said. ``It's just one for old farts.''
       ``I want to tell the stories we all want to read--the 
     important ones that teach us about life, ourselves and our 
     community at the same time,'' she said at the time. ``No one 
     else can tell the story of a community as well as a 
     newspaper, so it's a service to a community and a calling to 
     those of us on the job.''
       It was her humility that made her sum up the award by 
     saying, ``I guess it means I'm doing OK at the job.''
       That prompted a reply from frequent letter writer Brad 
     Schofield.
       ``In my opinion, the ability to `write and relate' is not 
     only a gift she has shared and worked so hard to achieve, it 
     is a dedication to a life of serving a people and a community 
     she obviously loves and respects,'' he wrote.
       A newspaper contest judge once called KB ``a consummate 
     pro.'' And she was. People in Gillette were lucky to have her 
     on their side for 37 years.
       We were even luckier to be able to call her a colleague. 
     Even more so a friend.

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