Today's Featured Biography

 
Rosamond Sample Brown-Banks

Following graduation from EHS, I went to Sweet Briar College, in Virginia, and spent my junior year in Paris. Following graduation, I studied in Madrid, Spain. I married Col.Harry Brown in 1966 and began life as a military wife and school teacher until my first son was born. My husband died in 1979, so I moved back to El Dorado with my two sons and taught French and Spanish for four years before going to graduate school and getting an International MBA in 1984 from Thunderbird (American Graduate School of International Management). I worked in international banking in Little Rock until I moved to Washington D.C. in 1990 to be the legislative assistant to then-congressman Beryl Anthony. In 1993 I joined a federal relations consulting/lobby firm and became vice president. In 2004 I quit work to spend more time with my family and friends and to travel. In 2005, I moved to Dallas where my brother John Houston Sample and his family live. (John Houston died from cancer in 2010). In 2009 I married David Banks whose home is Fayetteville, Arkansas. Neither of us was willing to make a permanent move, so we spend a couple of weeks in Fayetteville then a couple of weeks in Dallas. I also have a small home in San Diego. I am healthy, happy and blessed.

Additional bio
After my EHS graduation, I attended and graduated from Sweet Briar College in 1964. I had an interest in travel and international affairs, so I spent the summer after my freshman year in college in Guadalajara, Mexico, then my junior year studying in Paris, France. Following graduation, my grandmother offered to buy me a small car but instead I talked her into sending me to Madrid, Spain to studying more Spanish. When I returned to the U.S., I met a handsome Air Force pilot named Harry Brown who was stationed in Little Rock flying the B-58 Hustler. I married him eight months later and followed his successful career. We had two sons, Stewart and Garrett. Harry died unexpectedly in 1979 from an undetected brain aneurysm.

I moved back to El Dorado for four years and taught Spanish in schools in Norphlet and Parkers Chapel. Needing a more lucrative job, I went to Phoenix, Arizona and earned a masters degree in international business from the Thunderbird School of International Management. Following graduation, I moved to Little Rock and worked as an international banker and loan officer for five years at what was then Worthen Bank. Our U.S. congressman at the time was Beryl Anthony, a longtime family friend. He offered me a job in Washington as his congressional assistant to handle international trade issues and other matters. My sons were in college so I was free to make the move. I quickly got "Potomac fever" and loved the city and politics. I worked for Congressman Anthony for almost three years before his defeat then I became the vice president of a lobbying firm where I worked primarily on international matters. It was especially fun to work in Washington during the time of President Bill Clinton and attend parties at the White House for Arkansans living in the city.

I lived and worked in D.C. for 15 years, traveled around the world, and enjoyed it all but decided to retire in 2005. My brother John Houston Sample and his wife talked me into moving to Dallas and buying a house a few blocks from them. I am so glad I did that because I was able to spend a lot of time with him before he died in August of this year.

After 30 years of widowhood, I married an Arkansan named David Banks in 2009. We had dated 12 years previously but broke up and had had no contact until his brother reunited us in 2008. We decided after four days that we wanted to get back together and get married. You can imagine the shock and surprise to our friends and family. A happy one however. We now divide our time between his farm in Fayetteville and my homes in Dallas and San Diego. I look forward to seeing my former EHS classmates at our reunion.

VIEW ALL BIOGRAPHIES