Janice Brown was the glue that held things together at the Rockford Fire Department

A trailblazer whose family moved from Arkansas to Rockford when she was a little girl as part of The Great Migration died Sunday after a long battle with cancer.

Janice Brown , 76, made history by becoming the first Black person ever hired by the Rockford Fire Department, according to an August 1973 Rockford newspaper article.

She went on to become a beloved and integral part of the fire department, working there 33 years as a senior clerk of the Fire Prevention Division. After she died, her niece, Ald. Gabrielle Torina, D-5, found among her possessions a key to the city awarded to her aunt when she retired.

Torina never even knew her aunt had one.

"Aunt Jan never even talked about this stuff, and it's because it wasn't important to her," Torina said. "Her legacy is literally of love and kindness and laughter and generosity. That's what was important to her. And that's what everyone says about her. To me, it brought things into perspective. At the end of the day, that's all that matters."

A visitation is planned from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 23, at Fitzgerald Funeral Home and Crematory, Mulford Chapel, 1860 S. Mulford Road. A funeral service will take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24, also at Fitzgerald Funeral Home.

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Brown was born May 28, 1948, in Prescott, Arkansas, to her father, the late Rev. Samuel Brown, and mother, Irene Brown. Along with her sister, Ruth Torina, they moved to Rockford, then a manufacturing powerhouse, when she was very young as they sought better opportunities in the north.

Her father found work at a Rockford Gunite factory and eventually became the first Black union president in Rockford.

Torina said she was close with her aunt her entire life. Brown was a longtime member of the Rockford Travelers Bowling League and a member of the AARC Booker Washington Center Senior Boomers

"This is honestly a devastating loss to our family, but also for our community," Torina said. "She just made everything fun. You talk about having a fun aunt, Aunt Jan was the fun aunt. You just always wanted to be around her. She just has this way of lighting up a room and making everyone feel special."

Much of her career at the Rockford Fire Department took place before they were using computers. Fire investigation reports had to be typed, corrected and filed. There were carbon copies that had to made. And hand-written phone messages had to be delivered to the right people, retired fire investigator Mark Marinaro said.

Although she was a secretary, Brown had so many duties, she was more of an office manager, Marinaro said.

"She kind of took care of a lot of things and just took care of us for sure," Marinaro said. "She always watched out for us."

After retirement, she worked for another 13 years as a telecommunications specialist at Rockford University, but always loved the Fire Department. She continued to participate — even after she got sick — in dinners every couple months with what they call the 20-Year Club for fire personnel who work for the department for 20 years or more, Marinaro said.

Fire Chief Michele Pankow said she got to know Brown when she worked at headquarters as a training supervisor starting in the late 1990s. She noticed how organized Brown kept the Fire Prevention Division.

"She was a force to be reckoned with, 100%," Pankow said. "She pretty much had everything together. She was mostly here before computers. And so she was responsible for organizing. And I mean, she just really, really had everything very dialed in."

Jeff Kolkey writes about government, economic development and other issues for the Rockford Register Star. He can be reached at  (815) 987-1374, via email at jkolkey@rrstar.com and on X @jeffkolkey .

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Janice Brown was the glue that held things together at the Rockford Fire Department