Local resident honors wife with wig stands
Jack Brown, 86, a resident of Concordia Haven Apartments, began making wig stands during the pandemic as a way to honor the memory of his wife, Dianne Brown, who died from pancreatic cancer in 2018.
The wig stands find homes with people who come to the salon at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center which partners with Butler Health System.
“I thought it would be a good thing to do for other cancer patients in memory of my wife,” said Brown. “During the pandemic, many people were bored because there weren't many activities to do. I wasn't bored.”
Woodturning hobby
Brown's passion for woodworking began when he was a teenager.
“I got acquainted with a lathe in woodshop in high school,” Brown said. “It's something I've continued on as a hobby throughout my life.”
While working as an excavating contractor, Brown would pick up discarded pieces of wood from the construction projects and bring them home for woodturning. This started around 1995 and over time he amassed a large collection and began to wonder what to do with them.
Along the way, he connected with a virtual international woodturning group. The group originated in Louisiana and has spread across the globe.
Before he made the wig stands, Brown created candlesticks, Christmas ornaments and other items from the scraps he'd found over the years.
“The Christmas ornaments are an ongoing thing throughout the year,” said Brown. “I have regular orders from a few charities every year, and I make ornaments for fellow residents. It keeps me busy.”
After moving into Haven I, he saw an opportunity with the on-site woodshop to master his craft and continue to create with wood.“People have these two-by-four contests and that is where I first saw someone make the wig stands,” said Brown. “There were people who had done this before and that's where I got the idea.”The wig stands that many of the people in the club make are made from pieces of what would have been scrapped material from building homes.The wood can be two by four or two by six of pine, spruce, fur, or whatever is available. “We glue them back together again and make the wig stands,” according to Brown.“My wife had pancreatic cancer for about two years, and she did have a wig,” said Brown. “She had one of those styrofoam stands or something like that. I didn't know anything about the wooden wig stands at the time.”Stacey Meyer, oncology patient navigator for Butler Health Systems' Cancer Support Services, has a few finished stands on hand at the salon for when patients come in.“[Brown] asked the (Concordia) event coordinator Chantelle Sweeney if she knew anybody at the hospital,” Meyer said. “She reached out to me to get in touch with Jack Brown.”
Brown belongs to several woodturning groups, including the Butler Area Woodturners, Woodturners Anonymous and the American Association of Woodturners.Brown plans to continue making wig stands and other woodworking projects until he is no longer physically able to.“I just turned 86 here on 9/11,” said Brown. “My legs and hips bother me some and I can only work for a short period of time. Then I have to take a rest. These projects still keep me amused and busy.”He has new projects in the works that will benefit groups like the military. He's currently working on pens with wooden bodies and internal components made from kits that are sent to an army unit in Kansas that distributes them.“I don't charge for my work and I don't go to craft fairs or sell online,” said Brown when asked if people could buy or order wood creations from him outside of his current list. “I didn't want another business when I retired.”
