Distinguished Through the Decades: 1997, Kitty (Rogers) Brown
Progress 2022: Distinguished Through the Decades
Kitty (Rogers) Brown and her husband Tucker are both attorneys – she in litigation and he in healthcare law – and they and their twin sons Richmond and Stephen, 11, live in Birmingham. Brown is Franklin County Junior Miss 1997.
“It focused on recognizing and rewarding things that were important to me,” – as opposed to focusing on the superficial, Brown explained. She said she was excited to get to represent her hometown, as growing up in Russellville shaped who she became, through the support of her church, First Baptist, and the community at large. “Russellville is a special place to have grown up.”
Brown has been a litigation attorney since graduating from The University of Alabama School of Law in 2005. Prior to that, she completed her Bachelor of Arts in history and Spanish at Samford University in 2001. Although she started out pre-med, Brown said internships and externships in her junior year of college made her realize the medical field was not her passion.
“I grew up around a lot of lawyers,” – including her father, Bob Rogers, of Bedford, Rogers and Bowling. “I think I saw it as a way to use my skills – storytelling, putting together the pieces of an event or case to tell a story on behalf of the client – It’s a challenging way to work,” Brown said. “Law school was a natural next step for me.”
Brown said she met life-long, dear friends in law school. “We learned a lot about doing hard things together,” she said. “I probably learned as much outside of class as inside.” It’s also where she met her husband, and they married in 2006. “He’s the funniest person I know, and he makes me laugh every day, and he’s also the smartest person I’ve ever met – but we don’t tell him that,” she joked.
Though she enjoys practicing law, Brown said she would also love to teach someday – particularly to put her Spanish degree to good use. She taught English Language Learner classes in Russellville between her undergraduate and law school years, and “it was one of the must fulfilling things I have ever done.” Just as she has her father as an example in the law field, mother Jama Rogers provides a role model in education: She was a history teacher at Russellville High School.
In high school Brown was a majorette and played French horn in symphonic band – which she put on display as her talent for Junior Miss, playing “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring” by Bach. She also played tennis in high school, and she said having those competing interests served her well, teaching her early in life how to balance her priorities and manage her time – valuable skills she carried forward into college and law school.
Competing in Junior Miss at state, Brown said, was both physically and mentally draining, being in that unfamiliar environment, away from family and friends.
“I think the most challenging part at the state level was learning a substantial fitness presentation in a short amount of time,” said Brown, noting that although her experience as a majorette helped, the choreography was a challenge to quickly learn and commit to memory.
Although a hallmark of Junior Miss/DYW is that participants are away from their families and friends for the week, and deprived of their phones, Brown’s supporters encouraged her by preparing letters and cards to send with her to state, which she opened throughout the week to lift her spirits. She said that encouragement was an invaluable part of her experience, and it’s support she continues to see in Russellville – especially around her nieces and nephew who live there.
“Even though life may take you away from Russellville,” she said. “there’s always a lot of hometown support.”
