One year later: Stuart’s Browns open up on accident

June 02--The Browns' lives changed forever on June 18, 2017.

Stuart athlete Ashley Brown took part in a softball tournament in Arkansas with her travel team, and she was with her family while heading back home in light traffic U.S. Highway 270 southwest of Arpelar on Father's Day after the tournament got rained out. Brown was in the back of the family's 2008 Chevy pickup driven by her father, Shannon, while her mother, Christina, was in the front passenger seat.

It was just before noon when a 2014 Chevy pickup traveling eastbound struck the westbound vehicle transporting the Browns and flipped their lives upside down.

"I was in the back seat and I remember looking up and then the accident happening and then when I woke up, I couldn't get my door open, so I had to crawl out the back seat," Ashley Brown said. "And then my brother (Justin) happened to be the first one to the accident and I remember telling him to call 911 and everyone else showing up."

"The last thing I remember was I saw a flash of vehicle in my lane just a spur of the moment deal and no time to react," Shannon Brown said.

Both Ashley and Shannon Brown were taken to the McAlester Regional Health Center. Ashley Brown said she was released from the hospital that day after doctors didn't find any breaks -- but later found she had a broken right shoulder and two breaks in her right hip.

"I didn't have to have any surgery or anything, they both just held up on their own," Brown said.

Shannon Brown, meanwhile, did not remember going to the hospital -- but had to stay for roughly a week.

"My right kneecap was crushed, my right ankle and right heel was crushed," Shannon Brown said. "So I had surgery to repair my heel and my knee, and then my right shoulder, I believe, has a torn rotator cuff, but I did not have surgery on that."

Shannon Brown, who is a member of the school board at Stuart, said his memory was so disrupted from the accident that he did not know the details of what happened for the first 24 hours that followed.

Christina Brown, however, was killed in the accident that day.

A wife, a mother, a member of the community and a big supporter of the Lady Hornets was gone at 48 years old.

Shannon Brown said he had to ask about Christina Brown until he was told that night that she did not make it.

Remembering Christina

Shannon Brown said he grew up with Christina and "she was just the perfect image of what a mother and a wife should be and a perfect Christian."

He said his wife was a good woman and "a mother to everyone," and they did everything together.

"We'd get in the car; we'd sing songs together; we'd go shopping together, hold hands together," he said. "We done everything together, never spent any time apart. Ever."

Ashley Brown said some of her favorite memories of her mother are when she would yell at umpires during softball games, and the referees at basketball games. But she will never forget her mother's laugh.

"She was a mother to everyone," Ashley Brown said. "Her laugh was so loud, you just can't miss it.

"I could still hear it today," she said.

So how did the two manage to persevere and cope after what happened?

"God," Ashley Brown said. "God is the only reason we're here today. We can't be here without him, and I know me and dad are still here for a reason, and my brother, too."

The toughest part, Ashley Brown said, was her mother not being there for her games.

She said losing her mother also forced her to grow up quicker. Her older brother had moved out, so she was living with her father and realized she's had a lot of maturing to do, she said.

She also talked about how the past year has gone for her.

"Some days go by slower than others and some days go by faster," she said. "The holidays definitely went by a little slower, but I couldn't do anything without my dad or my whole family, really. They're just a bunch of people that's been here and it's crazy how it has went by."

Shannon Brown said the past year has been tough.

"It seems like it's just a dream that I keep hoping I'll wake up from every day," Shannon Brown said. "It goes by slow. I don't know that anything ever goes by fast because it never leaves my mind."

Shannon Brown said the accident brought him closer to his daughter, but is thankful that the two have always been close.

"I've always depended on my daughter, and I'm assuming she depends on me," he said. "We've always had a good relationship."

He said he is also thankful for the community's outpour of support.

"If I just had to go through this, there's no town anywhere I'd rather have been around to go through it with than the people of Stuart, Oklahoma," he said. "They're one big family right here."

Stuart's high school gymnasium held the funeral service for Christina Brown on June 23 and she was laid to rest at Rock Creek Cemetery. The Lady Hornets were all there to pay their respects and show support for Ashley Brown and her family. She said the whole community has supported the family.

Last year saw the first-ever Christina K. Brown Memorial Tournament on July 22 at the Pittsburg County Softball Complex. The event was a fundraiser for the Brown family with a 38-team slow-pitch softball tournament that mostly followed Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association rules.

Also available were T-shirts priced at $20 and wristbands saying "In loving memory of Christina K. Brown" for $10 -- with all proceeds to benefit the Brown family. Tournament organizer Reecie Beck said the goal was to raise $10,000 last year. Beck, together with Stephanie Fink, ended up raising nearly $16,000.

Another tragedy

Ashley Brown's injuries limited her junior season of fast-pitch softball to just 12 games, but her statistical performance did anything but suffer. In those dozen games in the fall of 2017, she batted .474 with a .487 on-base percentage with a .658 slugging percentage. She had one home run with 13 RBIs and eight runs scored. The Lady Hornets went 12-14 in fast pitch in 2017.

She returned to action Aug. 28, with a 10-0 win over Soper.

However, on that same day, tragedy struck the Lady Hornets for the second time in two months after Emily Smith, part of Stuart's Class of 2019 with Ashley Brown, lost her father, Robert. He was 52. His death was ruled a heart failure.

Emily Smith's mother, Connie Dunlap, said Robert Smith had previously been on dialysis and received a kidney transplant in May 2006. He had returned to dialysis and died of heart failure due to complications of the dialysis.

Stuart was there for Ashley Brown and supported her following the accident and loss of her mother. Now, it was time for Ashley Brown and her Lady Hornet teammates to do the same for Emily Smith.

"My team really helped me out a lot and they weren't just a team, they were family," Emily Smith said. "It helped out a lot knowing that they were there whenever it felt like nobody else was."

Ashley Brown said the whole team went and stayed with Emily Smith at her grandma's house following her father's death. She described the whole team as being like sisters.

"Me and Emily have always been close friends," Ashley Brown said. "...We go to church together and we sing every Sunday, and it's just a blessing to have her, and since we've both been kind of going through the same stuff, we both know how each other feel, we know we could talk to each other and we've always just been really close. I know that I can always text and call her and she can always text or call me. We're really close and this whole ordeal has just brought us closer."

Emily Smith said she had a lot of anger after her father's death and said she took her anger out on the field. She had 12 RBIs in 25 games while scoring six runs during her junior fast-pitch softball season.

She described her father as loud, outgoing and funny.

"He had his own personality and nobody can ever replace him," she said, saying they would always go to festivals and fairs together, in addition to him going to all of his daughter's games.

Both Ashley Brown and Emily Smith said Stuart head softball coach Chance Chapman was willing to talk to his players at any time and show them support -- even if it meant calling him at 2 a.m.

Chapman said he just wanted to help the girls through a challenging time.

"At first it was tough," Chapman said. "You didn't want to say the wrong thing, and I still am really sensitive to their feelings, trying to just say the right thing, do the right thing. You just always got to kind of recognize where they're at and what they're doing with the fact that they may handle things a little bit differently than somebody else and you just want to make sure that you're in tune to their feelings and you're just trying to be professional, the best that you can. It's just part of life. It's something that we don't dwell on, don't dwell on the past right now, and it's something that we just that hope it puts us in a better place not only with each other as far as the team, but you hope that they get through this and they become better people on down the road for what they've been through right now."

Seeing the Lady Hornets being brought together the way that they were was uncharted territory for Chapman.

"I don't know if I've ever been part of a team where you do have this kind of closeness, you've got this kind of bond in between teammates and just friendships have developed into more, it's kind of like a family," he said. "Sometimes, the severe tragedies, they're going to bring you together, and I do think it definitely brought those girls closer and it just definitely kind of improved our bond as a team."

Chapman talked about how supportive Robert Smith was of Emily Smith and her older sister Kayla, a 2014 Stuart graduate. He said that Robert Smith always bought paraphernalia of Stuart and always followed the teams around.

"He was just a good guy that wanted to see his kids do good and wore his Stuart shirt, his Stuart hat, to every game," Chapman said.

Christina Brown also made an impact on the lives of the Chapman family. She used to babysit Chapman's 6-year-old son, Case. Coach Chapman was a pallbearer at Christina Brown's funeral, likening her loss to that of a family member.

"The community lost an asset as well -- you lost a fan, you lost just a major staple," he said.

The deaths of Christina Brown and Robert Smith have taught Coach Chapman a lot.

"It's definitely made me a stronger individual and it kind of makes you realize how precious life is and how soon anything can change," Coach Chapman said. "It makes you enjoy the moment a little more and those people that are around, just kind of one of those tragedies that makes you a better person in many ways."

Someone who has also helped Ashley Brown is Coach Chapman's wife, Jennifer -- whom Ashley Brown has under the name, "Momma Jen" in her phone contacts.

"I talk to her every day," Ashley Brown said. "She's been someone I just can't thank enough. She's been incredible."

She said Jennifer Chapman would drive her to games while Shannon Brown was hurt, and that she took Ashley Brown to go see a doctor in Tulsa.

Christina Brown and Jennifer Chapman were really good friends, and that the latter's mother instincts took over and took the younger Brown under her wing, Ashley Brown said. She and Class of 2019 Lady Hornet Elizabeth Brewer stayed with Ashley Brown the night of the accident.

"Jennifer means more to me than she'll ever know," Ashley Brown said.

Jennifer Chapman said the Brown family welcomed the Chapman family when they first came to Stuart 10 years ago.

She hates what happened, but considered herself privileged to be able to step into Ashley Brown's life as a role model -- driving her home from games and helping her get ready for prom.

Prior to the accident, Christina Brown had purchased tickets for the July 14 Garth Brooks concert in Oklahoma City for the Brown and Chapman families. Jennifer Chapman said she talked with Ashley Brown after the accident as the event drew nearer, and decided to attend the event in her honor -- bringing some of Ashley Brown's friends and two of their moms who have been there for Jennifer Chapman along the way.

She said she can never fill the mother role, but would give Ashley Brown the advice that she's not alone through this, and that she always has someone to talk to without any judgement.

"For her to think of me as that kind of role model is just amazing because she is such a great person and it's such a great honor to be called 'Momma Jen,'" she said. "She also got me a Bible for Christmas that also has that on it, and I will cherish it forever."

Ashley Brown has also developed a relationship with Case Chapman, with whom she has played many sports, such as soccer, golf, basketball and baseball.

"I let him win," she said, saying Case Chapman is another person who means more to her than anyone will ever know.

Moving forward

Injuries returned and bothered Ashley Brown during basketball season.

"My hip started acting up and we went and got an MRI on it," she said. "I had fluid in my hip, fluid started acting up, but it went away, too, and now everything's back to normal. I haven't had any pain."

She starred as a guard for the Lady Hornets this season, being named first-team all-area by the McAlester News-Capital for the second straight season.

Ashley Brown averaged 13.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 steals and 3.2 assists per game to help Stuart to a 17-12 record and reach the regional tournament. She was also named to the All-First National Bank Tournament Team, as well as the All-Pitt 8 Conference Tournament Team.

"I just knew that I wasn't going to give up and this accident wasn't going to let me stop playing the sports I love," Ashley Brown said. "So, I just pushed through and even if I was hurting a little, I didn't think anything about it. It just went away."

The Lady Hornets began their slow-pitch softball season looking to return to the state tournament after Ashley Brown and Emily Smith made it there as sophomores. Stuart had won 17 straight games during the 2017 campaign, only to bow out with a 14-4 loss to Stonewall in the Class 2A state quarterfinals and the defense committing six errors.

Yet Stuart showed that last season was no fluke, finishing the 2018 season as the No. 7-ranked team in Class 2A. The Lady Hornets won all six games they played at this year's Pitt 8 Conference slow-pitch softball festival and went undefeated in both the district and regional tournaments to earn a second straight spot in the state tournament.

The Lady Hornets matched up with No. 4-ranked Binger-Oney in the state quarterfinals May 2. Stuart trailed, 3-0, after the first three innings of play, and was still looking for its first base knock. That's when Ashley Brown stepped up to the plate in the top of the fourth with a leadoff single that jumpstarted a seven-run rally for the Lady Hornets in that inning alone.

"When I was on deck, memories were just kind of flowing back from last year's state tournament when we didn't do so well," she said. "So I knew I just had to get things going like a spark plug.

"Coach is saying, 'Hit it to the right side, hit it to the right side,' so I did," she continued. "I just got a base hit to the right side and that just started the whole fire."

She also hit a two-run home run and three-run shot as the Lady Hornets poured it on and prevailed with a 20-8 win.

Stuart then took a thrilling 12-9 win against second-ranked Central High to advance to the state championship game.

"Every step of the way, whenever we won district, we won regionals, me and Ashley, that was the very first thing that we did, we just hugged each other and cried and cried," Emily Smith said. "We just told each other, we were like, 'We're sorry that your mom and my dad can't be here.'"

Top-ranked Shattuck prevailed against Stuart, 10-4, in the state title game, but Coach Chapman, Emily Smith and Ashley Brown all agreed that getting to the state championship game after everything the team had been through off the field made it that much more special.

"Tons and tons and tons more special because it brought us closer together and we knew that we were there for one reason," Ashley Brown said. "We knew that there was two angels up there watching us and it just made it a ton more special and we didn't think it could get anymore special.

"Getting runner-up is still a big deal," she continued. "We were all pretty mad about it, but when you think about it, it's huge."

Both Emily Smith and Ashley Brown appeared in 40 games for Stuart in 2018.

Emily Smith posted a .464 batting average, a .508 on-base percentage, a .782 slugging percentage, a 1.290 OPS with six home runs and 62 RBIs. Ashley Brown often led off for the Lady Hornets as the team's shortstop. She led Stuart with 74 hits and 74 runs scored with 126 at-bats in 136 plate appearances; and she batted .587 with a .618 on-base percentage, a 1.310 slugging percentage, a 1.927 OPS with 22 home runs and 65 RBIs.

Still there

Emily Smith said she still talks to her dad following his passing.

"I talk to my dad all the time," Emily Smith said. "I know he's proud of me. I just wish that he could be here to show me that because I've accomplished a lot over the past year. Whenever he died, I was just like, 'I have two choices. I can either stay here and be depressed, or I can get up and make him proud.'"

Both Shannon and Ashley Brown said they talk to Christina Brown all the time. Shannon Brown said if he is awake with his wife on his mind, he will go to the cemetery to pray and ask his late wife for advice.

Ashley Brown said that when she got back from the state tournament, she took the runner-up medal she received to show it to her mother at the cemetery.

What's next?

Emily Smith is hoping for a successful senior year both in fast pitch and in slow pitch. She said she doesn't know where she will go for higher education, but wants to major in occupational therapy.

Ashley Brown aims to get back to the state tournament in slow pitch as a senior, and was one of eight juniors on the slow pitch team this year. She thinks if the Lady Hornets work enough at it, they could go there in fast pitch and basketball, too. She wants to play a sport in college and one day become an elementary teacher.

Unlike other local multi-sport athletes in the area, though, she does not have a favorite between softball and basketball.

"This young lady right here just loves whatever that her teammates love," Shannon Brown said. "She's just there to give 110 percent to help her team and her environment is what she likes."

June will be a month with a few notable days in the lives of the Brown family.

The McAlester News-Capital reported Dec. 13 that Aaron G. Pickett, a Norman man, faces a first-degree manslaughter charge in the death of Christina Brown. District 18 District Attorney Chuck Sullivan accused Pickett of driving while under the influence of an intoxicating substance and driving into the vehicle of the Brown family. The McAlester News-Capital also reported in the article that a conviction of first-degree manslaughter carries a sentence of no less than four years, and that Pickett also faced a misdemeanor count charge of failure to maintain insurance or security verification. Shannon Brown said Pickett's preliminary hearing is June 6 at the Pittsburg County Courthouse.

Ashley Brown said she plans to visit her mom's grave on the one-year anniversary of her death and is sure that her friends and family will do the same and be there for her and her father.

"We'll just do what we got to do to get through it and hold our heads high," Shannon Brown said.

Contact Corey Stolzenbach at [email protected]

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