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Today's Profile: Terry Brown, Trident United Way
By Kristen Poland
Staff Writer
Old age is not for sissies. A plaque in Terry Brown’s office announces this to all who enter. The phrase serves as an understanding, and also as a ground rule. As vice president for senior services at Trident United Way, Brown understands aging can be difficult physically and mentally, but he believes that if they work hard, people can continue to enjoy life well into their golden years.
At 65 and in excellent health, Brown leads by example. A former college athlete and retired Marine Corps colonel, Brown is fanatical about exercising. He loves hiking, kayaking, golf, tennis—just about any type of sport or outdoor activity. He incorporates fitness into his day even with small steps like parking in the space farthest away from his office so his walk is longer.
“I have a more rigorous physical activity regimen than most people, let alone seniors,” Brown said. “A good Saturday for me is four hours of physical fitness.”
Physical fitness is only one component of Trident United Way’s Community Building program on Achieving Successful Aging. Brown works with seniors to encourage obtaining and maintaining lowered risk for chronic disease and related disability, engaging in both high physical and mental function and remaining fully engaged in life through full- or part-time employment, volunteer activity and social connectedness.
“When I turned 60, I figured I had a fairly good chance of seeing 90. I still had a third of my life ahead of me. But most of society says, ‘You might want to start thinking about retirement,’ ” Brown said. “Instead, we need to be encouraging these people to work. It gives your brain exercise and it contributes to the community. Seniors need to have resilience—old age still has an opportunity to be a third of your life, but in order to reap that you have to stay healthy.”
Brown also helped to establish the Charleston Trident branch of the Independent Transportation Network, which provides community-based transportation for visually impaired seniors.
Formerly the senior vice president for community building for Trident United Way, Brown requested a demotion two years ago in order to take his current position. Brown spent much of his career working in drug and alcohol counseling and community building, but when Trident United Way began looking for someone to head its Senior Services program, Brown felt that although it was a step below the position he was holding at the time, it was the perfect job for him.
“It was sort of like walking the walk, instead of just talking the talk about successful aging,” Brown said.
After graduating from Slippery Rock University with a bachelor’s degree in health education, Brown joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1965 and spent 12 years in active duty and 19 years in the reserves. In 1974, he was asked to manage a drug and alcohol program within the Marine Corps. At the time, there wasn’t a system to support soldiers after they left rehab.
“I’d watch these young men come back from rehab and go back to the same jobs, the same situation they were in before. They didn’t have any support and they were set up to fail again,” Brown said.
Brown educated himself about treating addiction and eventually recruited a staff member—a young sergeant who was a recovering alcoholic—to help him with the program. The two of them developed a program to support and re-acclimate soldiers who’d been in rehab. During this time, Brown earned two master’s degrees in counseling and psychology and physical education, then decided to leave active duty and pursue a career in drug and alcohol counseling.
Brown worked as executive director of the Aiken Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services for 18 years and significantly expanded the program. During his tenure, the company grew from having nine employees with an annual client load of 650 and a budget of $130,000 to 50 employees with more than 2,500 clients annually and a $1.4 million budget.
Brown then spent nearly three years as deputy director and then interim director with the Charleston County Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services before moving to High Point, N.C., where he served as director of community investment for the High Point United Way. In 2001, Brown and his wife, Elizabeth, moved back to Charleston. From 2001 to 2005, Brown worked as the senior vice president for community building.
Brown credits his passion for helping people live more fulfilling lives to the profound impact other people have had on his own life. He said that during his teenage years and early 20s he received guidance and encouragement that helped him get back on the right track after he struggled through what he calls his “misspent” youth.
“Fortunately I had parents, coaches and other leaders who weren’t going to let me do that,” Brown said. “I love to give in return for what I’ve been given.”
Kristen Poland is a staff writer for the Charleston Regional Business Journal. E-mail her at kpoland@setcommedia.com.
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