FERRIDAY — Johnnie L. Brown Sr., 68, a sitting alderman for the Town of Ferriday, died Thursday at the Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans.

Brown had served on the board since 2005 and had previously served on the Concordia Parish School Board and had been director for the Concordia Parish Recreation District No. 1. Brown had been a pastor, as well as an educator in the Tensas and Concordia Parish school systems.

Brown was reelected to the board in March 2016.

Alderwoman Gloria Lloyd said Brown, who was a classmate of hers and also sat next to her on the board, would be missed.

“He was a good person,” Lloyd said. “I do believe he cared about Ferriday.”

Ferriday Mayor Sherrie Jacobs and former mayors Gene Allen and Glen McGlothin all agreed Brown would be missed.

Jacobs said Ferriday lost a pillar of the community Thursday.

“Rev. Johnnie Brown Sr. spent decades working diligently for the betterment of his community,” Jacobs said. “His boisterous laugh will be missed as will his faithful voice for the children of this town.

“Although he is gone from our sight, he will live on in the hearts of all those he helped, loved and represented.”

Allen said while he and his cousin, Brown, had differences of opinion, they always remained friends.

“We served with respect for eight years,” Allen said. “He was an advocate of recreation and an advocate for clean streets — losing Mr. Brown will be a loss of knowledge to the board.”

When Allen was on the Concordia Parish Police Jury, he said Brown was instrumental in passing the tax that would fund the Concordia Parish Recreation District No. 1.

Allen said he was reluctant to ask the community for a tax, but Brown helped sell it and got it passed.

Riverland Medical Center Administrator Billy Rucker, who was a Ferriday alderman in the late 1990s at the time the tax passed, said Brown was an asset to Ferriday.

“One of his passions was working with kids,” Rucker said. “He will be missed.”

McGlothin said the tax was to maintain Ferriday’s gym, which was donated by the school board for town recreation.

“Johnnie was instrumental in helping rebuild that gymnasium,” McGlothin said. “Johnnie was my recreation director at the time — he led the programs for baseball, football and the swimming pool.”

Alderman Glenn Henderson, who also serves on the recreation district No. 1 board, said Brown was passionate about working with the youth because he understood children were the future of the community.

“He wanted to help them grow and help develop them,” Henderson said. “Recreation, that was a way for him to connect with kids and form that relationship with them that would help develop them, not only in sports, but as individuals and people.”

McGlothin said he had known Brown all his life, as the two had been alter boys together and also played baseball together with the neighborhood children growing up.

“Johnnie had a good heart and he loved Ferriday,” McGlothin said. “Being an alderman can be a thankless job sometimes, but he worked hard for the town.

“Johnnie was a good man who cared about people. I don’t think anyone can say anything bad about him.”

Brown’s funeral arraignments are incomplete at Concordia Funeral Home.