Linden recognizes volunteer’s service

The City of Linden hosted a dedication in recognition of Ruth Brown on Saturday in the 100 block of North Main Street as part of the Linden Pride initiative. Brown donated two custom wooden planters to replace the damaged boxes on site.

Luci Trahan and Allie Anderson with the City of Linden and community development, acknowledge Brown as being an invaluable resource to the organization’s efforts to revitalize downtown.

As a volunteer, she works tirelessly tending to the planting and maintenance of flowers along the city’s Main Street. Trahan said of Brown, “Everything she’s done, I’m not kidding, look at these flower boxes that are overflowing. It’s because she knows what she’s doing.”

For Brown and her family, the city’s acknowledgement of her gift was bittersweet as it paid tribute to Brown’s son, Timothy Barnes.

Barnes was killed in an automobile accident four years ago at the age of 18. She fought tears as she explained, “I had these sitting at home under the carport. Timothy made them his senior year in Mr. Horton’s wood shop. Since I’d been up here volunteering, I asked if I could take the old planters out and replace them. They told me I could.”

Barnes graduated from Linden-Kildare High School in 2015. He was attending college, full time, in Texarkana.

Trahan and Anderson honored Brown and her husband Floyd with a plaque affixed to each planter box. It reads, “Made By and in Loving Memory of Timothy Dade Barnes ‘Barney’ Donated By Floyd and Ruth Brown.”

According to Trahan, there was a period of inactivity until six months ago when the city began its effort to revitalize the initiative. Brown began volunteering at that time. The city made successful application for grant with the East Texas Aging and Disability Resource Center for the purchase of equipment. Linden Pride meets the second Tuesday of each month at city hall.