Marion Brown in King House parlor
By: Jayden Presley, Vallo Vision News
Marion Brown sat down in the parlor room of King House, glancing up at the portrait of Edmund King. Since she grew up in a house built in the 1830s, Brown says she is unbothered by the ghostly stories tied to King’s name.
“He looks like a pretty staunch fellow. I don’t think I’d want to cross him, but I just walk in the door and acknowledge Mr. King,” said Brown. “I do know grown men that will not come into this house.”
I guess if I had to write my own epitaph on my tombstone, I would hope that I would be remembered for preserving tradition.
Marion Brown
Brown, a historian, often tells the ghost story of the wedding party held at King House. An unknown white specter appeared between the bride and groom at dinner, causing the guests to scatter in fright.
Of all UM’s ghosts haunting the campus, Brown says King House is most active because of its history.
“A lot of things happened here, and there’s a lot of people that believe it left some residue,” said Brown.
Before creating her own legacy at UM, Brown came from Eastaboga, Alabama. Her brother and sister are 16 and 11 years older than her, respectively.
“I was a little bit of an ‘oopsie’. I am the result of New Year’s Eve 1969, much to my parents’ chagrin and dismay,” Brown joked.
She lived in a rural, small town with older siblings, so Brown says she had an abundance of imaginary friends to make her own fun. Some imaginary friends got her into trouble, and some got her out of it.
Brown says her home had open land, so she played outside most of the time. Her best friend was her caretaker, Shirley, so she never went to daycare. In high school, she joined theatre and spent time with different kinds of friend groups.
“One thing I’ve always liked to do is not be stuck in one peer group and kind of get a dose of everybody, because that’s where you find the fun in life,” said Brown.
She left her hometown and came to Montevallo when she was 17 years old. She says there was not much to do in Montevallo in 1988. All the shops and malls did not exist yet, and it was mostly pastureland and big farms. The Riverchase Galleria in Hoover was a brand new mall at the time.
“I came from an extraordinarily small town, so to see five red lights and a main street was pretty huge to me,” Brown said.
The university capped its student population at 1,900, and there were no cell phones. Brown says UM was a close-knit community and interacting with her friends happened differently compared to today.
“I think that having to deal with my peers face-to-face and not through text made us learn how to communicate with our peer group a little more strongly and with more confidence,” she said.
Brown double majored in speech and theatre, with English and journalism minors. At the time, the two main interest groups were Greek life and UM’s College Night tradition. She became heavily involved in the latter.
Brown’s mother died from cancer when she was 20, delaying her graduation.
“It did derail me for a while. That’s one reason I don’t confess how long it took me to graduate, because I might have wandered around a little bit,” said Brown.
She never left Montevallo, and she says the community’s consistent, firm foundation helped her “get her head back on right.” She says losing her mother was life-changing in many ways.
Her father died a decade later, who was a World War II veteran, computer programmer and engineer.
“Unfortunately, men don’t do well sometimes after women die. My father was significantly older than my mother, so he developed dementia after having little strokes. He was ill for about ten years before I lost him when I was 30,” said Brown.
Even though she lost both parents at a young age, she says she was lucky to have them, because she knows plenty of people who did not get the opportunity.
After graduating, Brown worked a few other university jobs before becoming UM’s Director of Facility and Event Scheduling. She remains at UM after 34 years and is also the Director of College Night.
College Night is one of the oldest college traditions in the nation, setting UM apart from other universities. It is a student-led production of two dueling plays from the purple side and gold side, adapted from UM’s school colors.
Even the College Night tradition holds ghost stories, and Brown’s favorite ghost is Trummie. Said to be the ghost of former UM professor Dr. Walter Trumbauer, Trummie haunts the auditorium in Palmer Hall.
“You know, Trummie was dear to the students, and he adored College Night. He was significantly involved in the committee, so it’s only natural that Trummie should remain there,” said Brown.
Dr. Jeff Walker is an instructor in communication studies with long connection to Montevallo. His parents, who are UM alumni, took him to see the College Night plays ever since he was a child. Years later after attending UM, he now works as a faculty member.
He met Brown when he was a student from 2004-2008. He says he got to know her when he was the writer and assistant director for gold side.
He stayed in touch with her after he graduated and worked with her for the centennial year of College Night. He says he considers her a friend and continues to collaborate with her for campus events.
“When I think of her impact, I think of our institutional memory. Marion was here as a student, she has been here so long as a staff member and alum and she cares so deeply about our traditions,” said Walker.
Walker says without people like Brown who take it upon themselves to pass down ghost stories, then some of it might be lost.
Many UM students, faculty and alumni claim to have had encounters with Montevallo ghosts. The question, though, is whether the ghosts are real.
“And what’s remarkable to me is that there’s so many years of student leaders and alum that come back and point to her and say, ‘She is Montevallo. She is College Night.’ Montevallo’s not Montevallo without Marion Brown.”
Jeff Walker
“Some days I believe more than other days,” Walker laughed. “The big one for me and Marion is probably Trummie in Palmer. So, I’ve never seen the stuff personally, but I believe there might be something to it.”
Brown says she believes the weight of the campus history is why the ghost stories continue to be retold today.
Brown said: “Logically, no, none of this should truly exist. But, I have to believe that all this is in motion, and all these things that have happened were life-altering to so many. I don’t deny it because I think I’ve had my own experiences that I couldn’t explain, and I’m a pretty common sense gal. I have no reason to disbelieve, so I want to believe it. I choose to believe it, I’ve experienced it and for me, that’s enough.”
Other than College Night and UM’s ghost stories, Brown says her greatest joy is watching students grow and become who they are meant to be. She says students need more than what is in the classroom.
Brown is proud to see her former student workers develop their careers from college freshmen to getting UM staff positions.
“I hope in any small way that I help make their life better because so many did that for me,” said Brown.
Walker says students, faculty and administration tend to come and go at universities, and it is important to have someone like Brown who cares about Montevallo’s history and its traditions.
“And what’s remarkable to me is that there’s so many years of student leaders and alum that come back and point to her and say, ‘She is Montevallo. She is College Night.’ Montevallo’s not Montevallo without Marion Brown,” said Walker.
Brown says she never wants others to forget the importance of history.
“I guess if I had to write my own epitaph on my tombstone, I would hope that I would be remembered for preserving tradition. But also, making an allowance for it to change to meet the times and what the students enjoy and want to do. I never want us to forget those that came before us,” said Brown.
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