Having already had a full life, Myrna Brown began writing her first novel Of Unseen Things Above, at age 70. She had vivid memories because she had lived in West Africa, for seven years as a missionary, wife and young mother, following a call to Africa she felt since age 6. She writes her first book about a young, single woman’s experience in West Africa, who also follows what she believed was a call as a child to Africa. Just as the author had, her character encounters many vividly told opportunities to help women and children, often those malnourished, mirroring the experience of the author. Included is the description concerning female circumcision at birth and the preponderance of the ritual that denies the female the full experience of sex.
A theme in her life is projected in her books, often mirroring her life experience. That theme is to contribute to efforts to lift women and insure their greater influence in society. For five years, she was president of the American Association of University Women (AAUW in Fairfax, Virginia and was later elected to the national board of the AAUW Educational Foundation.
Prior to her journey of writing books, she obtained a registered nursing degree, BSN from George Mason University, at age 50, and worked as a floor nurse, later becoming a hospice nurse of which she writes in The Chair Beside the Bed.
She was the editor and general manager of The Valley Times newspaper in Scotts Valley., California. She was also a Development officer for Bethany College after she obtained her BA, later becoming a member of the Chamber of Commerce, representing Bethany College.
Her childhood was spent in Cathlamet, Washington, a small town on the Columbia River. The eastern part of the state figures in a novel, titled A People at the Source of a River, where she tells of a German couple leaving their home country to immigrate to America. They build their new life in Wenatchee in what becomes apple country.
When she divorced and began life as a single woman she began a career of editing for the Air Force in San Jose, California. She was transferred to the Pentagon where she worked with a team of five officers to publish the Air Force Annual Report to Congress. After marrying, she and her husband, Denis moved to Wilmington, North Carolina to retire where she began her writing career.
As a child, her family had Punky, a Border Collie who could run freely about their ranch, even herding the chickens, always returning wanting affection and praise. A Border Collie, Shadow, is one of the characters in her last novel about early aviation, Harold’s Field.
An affair turns into marriage in her novel, A Season of Mists, taking place in a village on the Oregon Coast, where the marine layer may not recede until late afternoon.
Myrna Brown became an active member of the Wilmington Assistance League, which serves the needs of community children and young adults. After the death of her husband, Denis she moved to San Diego, California where she became a member of The Assistance League of Greater San Diego. As she builds a new life, she continues to volunteer in the work of the various philanthropies and the thrift shop which funds their community wide support.