2023SummerWarriorWEB

Leaving a Legacy A fter F our D ecades F inancial A id D irector

B renda C arson S ays F arewell

F inancial Aid Direc tor Brenda Carson has spent much of her life on the East Cen tral Community College campus. She met her hus band, the late Tom Carson, when they were students here. They moved back and worked together on campus for most of their careers, and they raised their family here. She has experienced love, loss, and many changes on this campus, and after 41 years and a lifetime of memo ries, she will begin a new chapter when she retires at the end of June to spend

more time with her family, which now includes five grandchildren. “I’m at an age now that I think my health is still good and it’s a good time for me to retire,” she said. “I still love what I do, but I’m going to have some ‘Brenda time’ now, which will include my children and grandchildren.” This past February, she had what she referred to as a light bulb mo ment that led her to look at houses in Hattiesburg, which is where two of her three children reside. Daughter Jen nifer and her husband, Grayson, and their family reside there as well as youngest son, Jeremy. Her oldest child, Chris and his wife, Wendy, and children reside in Georgia. During Tom’s ill ness, what they refer to as the Carson ARM Principle – Assess, Regroup, Move Forward was used to help them move through the cancer journey. She has found that this applies to life in general when faced with issues or decisions. When Tom was diagnosed, he had told his oldest son Chris, to make sure they

took care of their mother and to move her to Hattiesburg. That didn’t happen immediately, but is something that she knows he would approve of now. “I’m looking forward to being part of the everyday life of my Hattiesburg family. I will be able to do such things as pick up grandkids from school and have them visit my home,” she said. “I will also be able to travel to visit my Georgia family without having to work around my job’s demanding schedule.” Carson said she always thought she would remain in Decatur, but her mem ories, many of which are on the Decatur campus, are tied to her past. Those memories will still be there whether she is in Decatur or Hattiesburg. She said she is excited about moving to Hattiesburg and looks forward to start ing something new and building new memories there with her family. Brenda and Tom Carson started dating their sophomore year of col lege while both were students at East Central. After graduating from EC, they continued their education at Delta State University. After completing master’s degrees, they were married and went

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