The Holly Tran Brown endowed annual scholarship awarded to the Women’s Economic Development Council
This is an annual scholarship awarded each year to women who display a financial need and an eagerness to succeed.
Written by Sharon Steelman……This endowed annual scholarship is named after, Holly Tran Brown, my biggest hero and the greatest influence in my life. Today, it is very difficult to find real heroes. Holly Tran Brown is certainly one although she will probably never be immortalized in movies, written about in books or featured on TV. Holly came to America from Viet Nam. All of her life she has had an undying empathy and love for all of God’s creatures. Today she is very frugal, never wasting anything, but instead, finding a useful purpose for everything. This comes from the influences of her childhood in Viet Nam where her family often ate the residue that fell from the horse feed troughs and that they collected form the stable floors. That was all that they had to eat as they heard the percussion from the bombs tearing their home land apart. Holly later came to America where she had to learn the ways of this country. She taught herself to drive, to become proficient in the language and to survive. She raised three great children in spite of being constantly uprooted and traveling around the country as from one military base to another. All of her life she has been the symbol of honesty, courage, perseverance and strength. Even today her bright smile, disposition and optimistic outlook, is an encouragement to everyone that comes in contact with her. She is a true modern day hero! With this scholarship we hope to help others who like Holly possess the same honesty, courage, perseverance and strength. It is difficult for a person to pull themselves up by their boot straps if they have no boots. With this scholarship we hope to provide those boots. Holly Tran Brown is my mother.