Who is Nellie E. Brown? Olongapo school finally discovers mystery woman after 71 years

April 12, 2024 | 7:03pm

MANILA, Philippines — Public schools in the country are usually named after the places where these schools are located, local heroes — or even after the schools’ patrons and local politicians who commissioned them.

But a certain elementary school in a barangay in Olongapo City was named Nellie E. Brown Elementary School (NEBES) and the school administration, students and alumni did not know who Brown was, so an alumnus’ daughter began solving the mystery. 

It all started when Leo de Castro, Philosophy professor at the University of the Philippines, received four birthday cakes from an old grade school friend. They both studied at NEBES. 

His daughter Ellie always asked her dad who Nellie was. Her father, his brothers, and the people they grew up with also didn’t know Nellie.

The official history of NEBES, as documented by the Department of Education, mentioned that Nellie was a Peace Corps volunteer who helped build the school. 

But the timing did not match: the Peace Corps started only in 1961, while the school was founded in 1953.

What Ellie thought would be a quick Google search turned out to be an adventure that lasted more than two years — until the United States archive finally replied to their email, giving them a link of all news about Nellie in the US. From there, Ellie found a single article about Nellie E. Brown. 

According to the news article, in 1953, Olongapo was still being governed as part of the US Naval Base Reservation. At that time, a commander named Roger Brown Nickerson was overseeing the construction of an elementary school. When it was finally time to name the school, he decided to name it after his own kindergarten teacher back in Bangor, Maine. 

“Sa hinaba-haba ng adventure ay nahanap din natin si Nellie,” Ellie told students, alumni and faculty of the school, which drew applause and tears from the crowd. 

Nellie Eliza Brown was born on June 9, 1865 in Enfield, Massachusetts. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1888 and Chicago Kindergarten College in 1896. In Bangor, Maine, she pioneered the education of kindergarten teachers and became the supervisor of kindergartens and principal of the Bangor Kindergarten Training School. She taught kindergarten for 26 years. She passed away in February 1954.

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