Billy Brown’s Town

WAITSBURG -- Wai t sburg High School junior Billy Brown is exactly where he's supposed to be, playing football with the Cardinals each Friday night, selling his hog at the Fair Livestock Auction and in Oma Harting's kitchen looking for cookies.

At this time last year, Brown had been transferred from Waitsburg to a foster family in Walla Walla and was playing football for Walla Walla High School. He was well-liked by his new peers in Walla Walla, but after the football season ended, Brown re-enrolled at Waitsburg High.

"The town just has a spirit," Brown said. "Everyone knows everyone and gets along really well. It's like one giant family."

Brown traveled a tough road to get to Waitsburg. He grew up in Chicago and it's hard to believe this all-star athlete didn't grow up playing sports. He said his real parents couldn't pay to enroll him in local sports because they had other priorities, including drugs and alcohol.

"They just weren't good priorities," he said.

His family moved to the Tri- Cities to be close to relatives and try to get away from past problems, said Brown, who is the oldest of four children.

At age 12, he and his siblings were put in foster homes.

"Being put in foster care was the best thing that ever happened to me," he said.

His siblings were placed in homes in Spokane, Kennewick and Pasco and Brown was sent here to Waitsburg to live with Oma Harting and her other two foster children Justin Armstrong and Kris Cady. Brown lived with the family in 8th and 9th grades.

"He was funny," Armstrong said. "We got along pretty well."

Armstrong said Brown was known in the house for his random rapping, energetic spirit and for his ability to eat a lot of cookies.

"He's a good young man," Harting said. "He became one of my kids."

Harting said when Brown came to her home, he was very angry and she worked with him on his temper and trust issues.

"He has done a lot of growing," she said.

Jeff Bartlow, Brown's football coach, said the Harting household provided the stability Brown needed to flourish.

"He had built relationships and trust with his parents, teachers and with me," Bartlow said. "He has lots of good reasons to be mad, bitter and angry, but he's made the good choice. He holds himself accountable."

Bartlow said Brown was also raised in a family that went to church. Christian faith has helped Brown stay on the right track.

While Brown was in Waitsburg, he participated in not only football, but played basketball, ran hurdles on the track team, joined YoungLife and joined FFA. However, Harting had some health problems surface and she had to cut back on the number of kids in the home. Harting said she already had legal guardianship of Cady and Armstrong, so it was Brown who was to leave.

"It is one of the hardest things I've had to do," Harting said. "I didn't want him to be hurt."

There were two problems with Walla Walla, as far as Brown was concerned. First, his new foster family wasn't a perfect fit, he said. Second, he missed Waitsburg.

"I feel like I can make myself comfortable anywhere I go," Brown said. "But I missed my friends."

After just three months at Walla Walla High School, he re-enrolled in Waitsburg, making the commute each day. He called his friends in Waitsburg to find out if anybody in town could take him in.

The parents in the community got together and found him a place with Jennifer Johnson and Aaron Pope. He got a call from the couple in January saying they would work to make it happen, and he moved to Waitsburg with his new family last March.

"I thought there was no hope," Brown said, still in awe of their generosity.

Now that Brown is back to continue his high school education, he is focusing on sports, improving his grades so he can drive his car, and finding a college. He said he would like to attend Washington State University. He doesn't yet know if he will want to play sports while he's there. Going to college was always Brown's plan even though his real parents did not seek higher education, he said. He may study nursing or pediatrics.

"I like to make sure people are healthy and little kids are so cool," he said. "I could work with them."

To get there, he knows he needs to improve his grades. Going to Walla Walla High School was a change from Waitsburg schools and his grades dropped.

"It was hard to get help from the teachers," Brown said.

And once he raises his grades, his new parents will give him more freedom to use his car.

"My car is motivation and it's time to step up my game," Brown said. "College will be here sooner than I know it."

He would like to see his siblings more often, but he has no current plans to reconnect with his real parents.

"They messed up," he said

Brown still visits the Harting household to mow her lawn, visit with Cady and Armstrong and eat cookies. She said he also does odd jobs for folks around town to make money.

"He could sell ice cubes to an Eskimo," Harting said about Brown's entrepreneurial skills.

Coach Bartlow is also happy that Brown came back to play for him. On his team, he's respected athletically and doesn't chat that much while he's on the field. However, off the field, he's flirting with the ladies and clowning around.

"He's likeable in lots of ways." Bartlow said. "I just felt in my heart he would be back in Waitsburg. It's where he belongs."