Ellen Donaldson Brown - 2011
MHS 1963 Graduate
Ellen L. Donaldson Brown, class of 1963, was nominated by her cousin, James Donaldson, also of the class of 1963. A native of New Franklin, she attended school there, then attended Minerva High School where she sang in Leonard Welch's Choirs and played piano with the Stage Band.
She began her formal piano lessons with Beth Hoobler Bates of Minerva at age 7, then at age 13 transferred her classical music studies to Mount Union College, where she studied piano, music theory, and pipe organ with Fred Williams and Arthur Lindstrom. Her first choral experiences were in her mother's choir at St. John's Lutheran Church in New Franklin. Her career as a church organist began as a teenager, and later advanced to studies in organ, choral conducting and arranging with David N. Johnson at Arizona State University. In 1967 she received the Bachelor of Music Education degree from Mount Union; in 1974 the Master’s of Music degree from Arizona State University; and in 1992 the Arizona Community College Lifetime Teaching Certificate.
Brown is an exceptionally versatile director, teacher, pianist, organist, accompanist, and arranger with an enthusiastic outgoing personality. In his nominating letter Donaldson wrote, "Ellen is a person of exemplary character and talent. She has a passion for life and is loved and respected by all who know her."
Brown's life has been a happy collection of musical activities. She says that no life is truly complete without an art with which to express oneself--and she's chosen the Art of Music! She was a choral arranger, accompanist, music theory assistant and college chapel organist while a student at Mount Union College. She was an elementary music teacher for Lorain City Schools from 1968 to 1971. She was and a pianist and singer with Glenn Brown's Jazz Ambassador Band from 1984 to the present. While teaching in Lorain, she and Glenn played with a Puerto Rican Band and presented 17 two-piano jazz concerts for the Lorain City Elementary Schools. From 1996 to 2001 she was a concert organist for the American Guild of Organist annual scholarship benefit marathon, and entertainer for Fiesta Bowl Events at the Arizona Biltmore and the Phoenician Resorts from 1995 until the present; and worked as a freelance accompanist and arranger for the McGuire Sisters Singing Trio and New York City Opera stars Robert Hale and Richard McKee. Brown has been pianist for various shows including My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, Guys and Dolls, The Fantastiks, and West Side Story. Concerts with her husband Glenn as a two-piano jazz team have included being the opening act for The Mills Brothers at the Chandler Center for the Arts. Her work as a church musician has included playing and/or directing at The Christian Church in Lorain, Ohio; St. Peter Lutheran in Mesa, Arizona; The First Church of God in Phoenix, Arizona; Beautiful Savior Lutheran in Tempe, Arizona; and the United Methodist Church of Paradise Valley, Arizona. In addition she has served as accompanist to the Desert Foothills Chorale, the Phoenix College Chamber Singers, and the Phoenix Police Department Honor Chorus, which included performances in Washington D.C.
An adjunct faculty member at Phoenix College since 1999, she has taught piano, organ, music theory, and aural perception. She is also accompanist for the Phoenix College Concert Choir and the McConnell Singers Women's Chorus, with whom she tours annually. She is a member and past dean of the Central Arizona Chapter of The American Guild of Organists and has been a featured presenter in two Pipe Organ Encounters, and AGO national educational project promoting the pipe organ to teenagers.
In 1971 she assisted her husband establishing his business, Glenn Brown Piano Rebuilding, and for many years has been an active member of the business. The Browns live in Tempe, Arizona, and are the proud parents of two adult sons, Aaron and Matthew.