Guardian of the Memories: Searcy

About the Book

Having grown up in rural White County, Arkansas, in a poor family with limited education and opportunities, Frank Brown was able to alter a cycle of poverty and illiteracy. Many opportunities are presented to us in life and we must be able to choose correctly those things that will benefit our well being. His choices were seldom the best but he had loved ones that guided him with more wisdom than he realized. Many memories during his youth are of his struggles to overcome obstacles in the path of his education and training.

This book is a collection of memories of growing up in the rural south during the late 1960s and 1970s near Searcy, Arkansas. The story is of a young boy of who is disadvantaged educationally but gifted in surviving in the deep woods as a hunter, trapper, and fisherman. The stories show his transformation into a young scholar who becomes the first in his family to attend college and then to enter medical school. The memories describe, factually, the many tribulations that this young man faced and how others helped him to overcome the challenges. Many lessons were taught by others for this young man to learn. One young man was able to succeed in life in his pursuits, not only because of his talents, but because of many people who lived in and around Searcy, Arkansas. This book is an inspirational tribute to the great benefits of a solid education.

About the Author

Frank Wayne Brown, MD, grew up in rural White County, Arkansas in a poor family that had limited educational opportunities. He graduated as Valedictorian of his high school class in 1976. He attended Harding College with a major in chemistry, and in 1984 graduated from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock with a doctorate in medicine. After completing five additional years of internship, residency, and fellowship, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Brown has been on the faculty of the Emory University School of Medicine since 1989. He is a geriatric neuropsychiatrist specializing in the diagnosis and management of dementia and early cognitive disorders in the elderly. He is one of the few Native Americans (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) who has specialized in this area.

Dr. Brown is currently the Chief Medical Officer of Wesley Woods Geriatric Hospital and the Chief Quality Officer of Wesley Woods Geriatric and Long-Term Hospitals in Atlanta, Georgia. He has been involved in numerous leadership positions of national organizations including the Board of Regents of the American College of Psychiatrists and being the chair of numerous committees of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Brown has been active with the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology as an examiner and committee member beginning in 1991. He has been honored multiple times with the Best Doctors in America award.

Dr. Brown married his college sweetheart, Pam, who is a Best Doctors in Atlanta physician practicing gynecology. They have three children and live in Stone Mountain, Georgia.