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Note #8305 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Outlook Foundation honors former executive
GA04015
June 26, 2004

Outlook Foundation honors former executive

James Brown Sr. lauded as 'leading progressive voice' in PC(USA)

by Evan Silverstein

RICHMOND, June 26 - The Presbyterian Outlook Foundation has honored the life
of a former Presbyterian Outlook general manager who died earlier this year.

James S. Brown Sr., and two others were lauded during the foundation's annual
dinner, held on June 26 in conjunction with the 216th General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church (USA).

Brown, who was general manager and later publisher of the Outlook, an
independent Presbyterian publication, was remembered for teaming with his
brother, the late Aubrey N. Brown, and the late editor Ernest Trice Thompson,
to lead the publication "from humble beginnings in the 1940s to its role as a
leading progressive voice in the Presbyterian Church," in the words of
Richard A. Ray, president of the foundation's board of directors.

While Aubrey Brown and Thompson wrote the words that challenged the church,
it was James Brown who made it possible for the magazine to survive, Ray
said. James Brown also "developed the Outlook Book Service into a
well-respected and efficient mail-order service," Ray said.

James Brown died last March at age 91. He was active in his church and
community. In the 1950s, when others in Richmond were resisting racial
integration, he volunteered as a leader of an African-American Boy Scout
troop.

"He advanced the cause of equal rights also by hiring African-American high
school students at the Outlook," Ray said, "making it one of the first
white-operated businesses in the city to take that step."

James Brown received the E.T. Thompson Award during the Outlook dinner in
1989 during the 201st Assembly in Philadelphia.

"Tonight we honor his memory, thank his family for sharing him with us, and
promise to continue promoting the values by which he lived," Ray said.

The Foundation also honored Lillian McCulloch Taylor, who for 15 years has
edited the book-review section of the magazine.

"Each week her efforts introduce readers to new and important selections from
a vast array of publishers," Ray said. "She oversees an amazing network of
reviewers and keeps our readers well informed."

Also honored was Barbara D. Souders, a retired proofreader for the Outlook,
who for 30 years served three editors and "helped the Outlook maintain a high
degree of accuracy and top standards for grammar," Ray said.

In the pre-Internet world, he added, this often meant numerous phone calls to
libraries, church offices and denominational headquarters. "And of course, an
ever-present dictionary," Ray said. "Her dependability as a proofreader is
amazing."

Also during the dinner, John Sniffen, associate editor of the Presbyterian
Outlook, received a standing ovation for his service to the publication.
Sniffen, 49, who started working at the Outlook in 1997, was recently named
associate editor of Presbyterians Today, the denominational magazine of the
Presbyterian Church (USA). He will take his new position later this summer.

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