The Honorable Richard A. Brown
The Barbara Brown Memorial Fund was established by many donors through the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute to honor the life and legacy of Barbara L. Brown, Ph.D. Dr. Brown was a former Clerk of Courts for Randolph County (2000-2012). She earned her doctorate from Southern Illinois University in 1985 and continued to teach in the department of political science for over 30 years. During many of those years, she taught American government and democracy classes to international students through a summer program funded by the U.S. State Department.
She published widely in her field and established herself as an important figure in local, state, and national electoral politics. Barbara was a co-founder and former president of the Illinois Women’s Institute for Leadership, vice chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois, co-founder and president of Southwestern Illinois Democratic Women, founder and president of Southern Illinois Democratic Women, Precinct Committeewoman and former chairwoman of the Randolph County Democratic Central Committee, and treasurer for the Pierre Menard Democrat Club. She attended and was a nine-time delegate to the Democratic National Convention (1976 to 2012), a two-time candidate for Illinois Fifty-Eighth State Senate district (1996 and 1998), and served notable roles in the campaigns of President Bill Clinton (1992 and 1996) and of President Barack Obama (2008 and 2012). She was a member of the Electoral College in 2012.
In addition to her political career, Barbara contributed to the betterment of her community by helping to establish the American Cancer Society’S Relay for Life in Randolph County, serving on the Chester Public Library Board of Trustees, starting and leading the Chester Aces (a 4-H club), being a longtime member of Rotary International and an organizing member of the DAR Liberty of the West Chapter.
She married Richard A. Brown of Chester in August, 1976, and they had three sons, Jay, Matthew, and Nathaniel Brown. She was born and raised on a farm in Ellis Grove, Illinois, and resided in Chester, Illinois, until her death
on May 05, 2016.