Alice Vol. 4 No. 2

Tiny
Foundations
By Meg McGuire
In an office nestled on the third floor of Lloyd Hall,
silvery light filters through a picture window overlooking
the The University of Alabama’s Quad, sending warm
shafts into a blue mug that reads,
“Slow Down. Life is good.”
Amanda Espy-Brown’s students can count on having
fresh coffee brewed every morning in the breakroom to
accompany seminars sprinkled with stories about her sons
and kayaking trips with her dogs, Shiloh and Sadie.
Between her time spent researching in Nigeria and
trekking through the Alabama wilderness on geographic
expeditions, her life has been characterized by taking
on big challenges; but 50 minutes northwest of campus
in a one-gas-station town, a small project stands as the
manifestation of a narrative saturated with crushing loss
and the bittersweet essence of healing. The foundations
of this personal sanctuary are rooted in the true grit and
trailblazing heart of a woman whose journey has been
anything but tiny.
Unexpected Change
Espy-Brown rebelled against her family’s fivegeneration
streak of civil engineering graduates from
The University of Alabama to study geology at the rival
Auburn University. It was there that she met her husband
after a friend of theirs introduced her to his identical twin
brother by mistake. After the mix-up was resolved, Espy-
Brown was set up on a blind date with the real Warren
Brown. She said it was love at first sight.
After returning to UA for graduate school and
discovering her passion for teaching, Espy-Brown went
on to earn her doctorate and worked at Middle Tennessee
State University. Her husband served as a combat civil
engineer in the United States Air Force and earned the
ranking of major. Eventually his career brought their
family back to her Tuscaloosa roots where she took a job
as the education and outreach coordinator at the Museum
of Natural History.
Soon after being hired, Espy-Brown’s husband came
to her with significant peripheral vision loss. Doctor
appointments eventually led to the discovery of a brain
tumor. In their private moments together, the two of them
discussed the logistics of transition.
As the cancer progressed and concerns about their
56 Alice Spring 2019