The stretch of Magaretta Avenue recently renamed for fallen police officer Norvelle Terrell Brown is a short two blocks, but its immortalizing presence promises immeasurable impact as it triggers memories of a model young man and cop.
Short, but impactful: this characterizes the young man’s stint on the St. Louis Metropolitan Police force perfectly. He had been on the job just 10 short months when a youth allegedly shot him dead on August 15, 2007.
In that brief time, Brown was making good on a mission to make an impact in his troubled former neighborhood of Sherman Park.
“He is smiling down from Heaven,” his mother, Allie Williams, said of the gesture to rename the street (Margaretta between Union and Geraldine) “Officer Norvelle T. Brown Avenue.”
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri also has started a mentoring initiative in his name – and enlisted the help of his mother.
“My son cared about St. Louis, his neighborhood and the children who grow up in our community,” his mother said of Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Winning Wards Initiative in honor of her son.
The initiative endeavors to partner with residents, civic leaders, business owners, clergy and educators to provide one-one-one mentors for inner-city youths.
“Not only will I help a young child by becoming a mentor, I will honor his legacy and memory,” Williams said.
Williams also serves on a committee for the Officer Norvelle T. Brown Scholarship Foundation, spearheaded by one of his colleagues at North Patrol, where he had been assigned.
“I have to keep his legacy alive, because there’s something he wants me to do for these kids,” Williams told herself shortly after the death of her son.
One night, she said, he came to her in a dream: “He said, ‘Continue to help them kids.’”
‘Somewhere in a hurry’
Williams described her son as laid back and humorous. He was a tough, but loving, disciplinarian, especially to his nieces.
He attended school in the Pattonville School District and Blewitt Middle School and graduated from Vashon High School.
In high school he played football and ran track. No surprise there. When Williams gave birth to Brown at home, she said he jumped out like rabbit, and “Rabbit” became one of his nicknames.
“You should have seen how fast he crawled,” Williams said. “It was like he was trying to get somewhere in a hurry.”
School friends called him “Cheeto” because he ran so fast and loved to eat Cheetos.
Family members called him “Terrell,” his middle name. His car? A Dodge Charger.
Williams said though she, Brown and his sister, Shanletha Brown, sometimes lived in bad neighborhoods, her son was able to dodge the bad elements because she and her aunt kept him in church.
Brown wanted something better for himself anyway. As a child he was already talking about becoming a police officer and helping others. In high school he considered becoming an attorney, but went on the frontline as a public servant instead.
“He thought he was an attorney – he would question you down,” said his 28-year-old sister Shanletha Brown.
When Brown decided to become a cop, his mother didn’t agree at first.
“That was his calling, so I didn’t want to stand in his way,” she said. “He valued my opinion, but he always made his own decisions.”
And Brown had his mother’s back. He helped her through nursing school, and she now works in the health-care industry.
She also spends a lot of time at her sanctuary, Circle of Life Church. For fun, she and her husband, Kevin Brown, like to look at movies and barbecue at their new Bel-Ridge home in North County.
But her salvation is carrying on her son’s legacy. She is excited about working with Big Brothers Big Sisters, an avenue for service brought to her by 22nd Ward Ald. Jeffrey Boyd.
It was also Boyd who pushed the resolution through to name a city street after her son, after she approached a major at North Patrol who took the idea to the alderman.
Williams said she doesn’t mind doing all of the interviews about her son, but at times it saddens her.
“Sometimes I feel sad, but I’m happy he was here to touch so many lives and make a difference,” she said.
“They wanna talk about my son – I’m going to tell them about him, because he was good person and some people didn’t know him and I love my son.”
