Los Gatos Weekly-Times file photograph
John Prentiss Brown shows the new home economic classroom to board members Dr. Horace Jones (left) Louie Sporleder and an unidentified woman.
John Prentiss Brown, principal of Los Gatos Union High School from 1931 to 1955, was blessed with a near-genius memory for numbers, a strong respect for the public dollar and compassion for students.
His ability included a memory of every card played in a bridge game. An example of this talent was evident when a memory expert demonstrated his skill at the school. He asked that numbers five wide and 10 deep be written on a blackboard, recorded on a sheet of paper and then erased. The expert read off the numbers from memory. Brown checked the expert's accuracy and announced one error without referring to the written copy.
This feat seems impossible except to those who saw on television a young boy do a long-division problem in his head faster than another boy could get the answer on a computer. There are such people.
Brown's memory made him a tiger at the bridge table, particularly at the San Jose Elks Club, where he played with his cronies.
In the post-World War II era, foreign-born families were moving here. Such a boy practicing for a school play missed the school bus, and Brown drove him to Saratoga and went into the home to explain lest they think their son was in trouble and punish him. Some parents told their children that "if you get a whipping at school, you'll get another when you get home."
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, a Swedish-born farmer working in the east foothills of Los Gatos committed suicide by drowning, leaving his wife, cancer-ridden and helpless, and five children penniless and with little food. Brown was one of the first civilians at the scene, and he spearheaded a local drive to plan care for the dying mother and place the three sons and two daughters in local homes. Harry was old enough to join the Navy. Daughters Ellen and Elsa wound up in the Sewall Brown home, and David and Art were received at the Becker home. At UC- Berkeley, Dave was the fullback in the 1940 Rose Bowl win over Alabama and became regular Army, and Art was captain of the 1940 Cal varsity team. Dave had a long Army career, and Art was an officer in a rock quarry operation north of Santa Cruz. The Anderson sisters married professional men.
The refurbished school auditorium was named for Brown. Some felt it should be named for graduate Olivia de Havilland, who played one of the starring roles in the movie Gone With the Wind. Contacted by phone, DeHavilland said that the auditorium should decidedly be named for Brown.
Brown was a teacher, principal and businessman in Oregon. Upon coming to Los Gatos, he told friends that he did not think there was a school or business that he could not improve financially. A short time after succeeding J. Warren Ayer as principal, however, Brown said Ayer had left things in such good shape he couldn't improve on them.
The son of a banker, Brown graduated from the University of Oregon, where he played football, and later met his wife-to-be, Flora, in Kansas.
In retirement, Brown continued playing bridge at the San Jose Elks Club. During a game, he laid his cards on the table in front of him and said. "Deal me out, fellows." And he died at that moment of a heart attack at age 69. "No one thought to look at his hand," said his daughter, Barbara Brown Simpson, of Aptos. Another daughter, Flora May Brown Nathan, also lives in Aptos. Brown's wife, Flora, preceded him in death.
A grandson, John Simpson, is principal at North Monterey School, and granddaughter Sue Matheson is a counselor at Del Mar High School.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 13, 1996.
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