Upon their passing, many people are spoken of as pillars of a community, individuals who had a tremendous love for those around them and a seemingly boundless energy to serve as much as they possibly can.

Valmeyer recently lost such a pillar with the passing last week of Laurie Brown, a woman who was the face of the village government for over 30 years but had a presence that extended to almost every corner of the community.

One of Brown’s daughters, Jenny Klinkhardt, offered a personal perspective on her mother.

Brown grew up on a farm right outside of Valmeyer. One of seven children, she briefly attended Cedar Bluff School in Fults prior to its closure, finishing out her education in the Valmeyer district.

Throughout her life, Valmeyer was always her home.

“She’s always lived and breathed for Valmeyer, second only to her kids and her grandkids,” Klinkhardt said. “Valmeyer was at the top of her list.”

As she gave birth to her first daughter in high school, Klinkhardt said Brown kept herself busy both as a mother and with miscellaneous jobs following her graduation. One notable position she held was at a bank in St. Louis until Klinkhardt was born, at which point she stayed home to babysit her kids and their cousins.

Of course, many in and around Valmeyer know Brown thanks to her position as village clerk, a role she held for just over three decades.

Valmeyer Village Administrator Dennis Knobloch recounted how Brown came to be in that position following the Flood of 1993.

Knobloch was serving as Valmeyer’s mayor at the time and he recalled that the clerk position then was faced with a considerable number of new responsibilities as the community was recovering from devastation.

Already nearing retirement, the existing clerk stepped down from the position, and Brown stepped up. She had already been serving on the village board for a brief time when she approached Knobloch about filling the role of village clerk. 

He quickly appointed her.

Knobloch described Brown as “invaluable in her position,” how she was effective not only in an administrative capacity but also as she was adaptable and “able to tackle just about anything that came her direction.”

As in so many facets of her life, Brown was always eager to help folks who reached out to her.

“Any kind of question that anybody had regarding village activity, they would always call Laurie,” Knobloch said. “That’s the reason she was so successful in what she did. She found a way to help everyone solve whatever problem they might have had, and people really appreciated that and counted on her for advice and support no matter what was happening in their lives.”

Knobloch further described how Brown was exceptionally active in the community, always enthusiastic about promoting whatever cause or activity she heard about and discussing it with the village board.

“Any time she saw that there was a need for something that the village could get involved with and help people to make their lives better, she was always ready to step forward,” Knobloch said.

Current Valmeyer Mayor Howard Heavner also had kind words for Brown and her many years of service to the community, noting how, given all the correspondence and calls that passed through her, she was how many folks interacted with the village government.

“She was a central figure,” Heavner said. “Sometimes people say somebody’s the backbone of your organization, but she was the first one, the hands, whatever you want to call it, that reached out to help people when they called us. She was a central point in our government.”

The title of clerk was only one of many hats Brown wore throughout her life, however, as demonstrated by a recent post on the Village of Valmeyer’s Facebook page celebrating her life.

The post details numerous roles Brown filled at village hall, acting as receptionist as well as the human resources, accounting and permitting and zoning departments. She was also willing to step outside and assist pushing snow or performing maintenance work.

Comments below that Facebook post further outline the extent of Brown’s presence in the community, providing assistance for the Valmeyer Police Department in many ways, aiding the school district and generally serving as a kind, helping hand about town.

Heavner also made mention of her work with the Valmeyer Fire Department, and her obituary notes how she was a trustee with the department as well as serving as a member of the Monroe County Zoning Board.

Klinkhardt spoke about how, as she and her husband owned Mike’s Service and Convenience Store in town, they were always on the lookout to help sponsor teams or individuals and their projects.

She summarized her mother’s eagerness to serve and help.

“She liked to do things where she wasn’t recognized,” Klinkhardt said. “She would rather do things and get no recognition. She didn’t want a pat on the back. She just did it because it was right. My mom loved her village.”

Klinkhardt and Knobloch also spoke about her work with Monroe County House of Neighborly Service, as she was always interested in adopting a family for Christmas to ensure they enjoyed their holidays.

Christmas as a whole was special for Brown, with Klinkhardt lovingly describing her as a “Christmas fanatic.”

Knobloch mentioned her getting her house decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving, and Heavner pointed to the Christmas tree she ultimately just left up in the office, decorating it for each holiday through the year.

The personal energy she had for Christmas was so great that it spread throughout Valmeyer, with Brown being responsible for the many holiday decorations throughout the village during the season.

Klinkhardt spoke about her mother’s love of the holiday and its many traditions, particularly baking cookies with family.

Spending time with those closest to her, in Klinkhardt’s view, is why Christmas was so important to her.

“I honestly think that she enjoyed Christmas so much just because she enjoyed being with her family,” Klinkhardt said. “She loved giving presents. She didn’t want you to get her a present, but she liked giving people presents because she just liked to watch people get something that they enjoyed.”

Both in and beyond the purviews of Christmas and clerk responsibilities, Brown was a generally good person.

Knobloch described her as “very giving” and emphasized the impact her loss will have in the community.

“She definitely was somebody who a lot of people were affected by, the decisions that she helped to make, and they don’t even know,” Knobloch said. “Those people will definitely miss her involvement. She’s gonna be a very hard person to replace, the skill set that she had in the job that she was doing. We’re definitely gonna miss her involvement and the contributions that she made to the village.”

Heavner spoke about her energy for folks around her and likewise bemoaned the hole that Brown has left in Valmeyer.

“She’ll be missed. No question about it,” Heavner said. “She was one that went over and above any normal job duties or expectations you would have for a clerk. She was all about Valmeyer and Valmeyer being successful.”

Klinkhardt spoke about Brown as a mother and grandmother. Outside of work, her grandchildren were everything to her, and she was always dedicated to taking them to school or going to games.

Brown’s children grew up showing cattle at the Monroe County Fair, and Klinkhardt said her mother could spend all day through the week at the fairgrounds.

With many offering great praise for Brown, Klinkhardt summed things up nicely as she acknowledged that there is simply no way to fully capture and commend who she was.

“It’s hard to say enough good things about somebody like her,” Klinkhardt said. “I feel like I could write pages and pages and pages, and it just wouldn’t be enough.”