Kaila Brown touched those she met with her curiosity, honesty and compassion.
Brown—a fifth-year graduate student in English—was described by those who knew her as a passionate scholar, dedicated teacher and caring friend. The cause of her death Sunday has not been determined, but foul play is not suspected. She was 27.
The youngest of five children, Brown grew up in Apple Valley, Calif.—a small town in Southern California. Her father, John Brown, said that even as a child Kaila was always organized and “a stickler for doing things right.”
A scholar who "literally shone with passion"
Her father said Brown loved learning and would read anything she could get her hands on.
“She had an immense desire to accumulate knowledge,” he said. “She always wanted to understand how and why things worked the way they did.”
Brown received her undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University in 2009 and spent the last five years pursuing her Ph.D in English and Literature at Duke.
She was expected to complete her degree in Spring 2015. As a student, she was involved as an assistant director for the Center for Philosophy, Arts and Literature.
Her dissertation advisor Toril Moi, James B. Duke Professor of Literature and Romance Studies, described Brown as a “hugely talented thinker.” She was in the process of writing a dissertation that examined how recent Anglophone authors explore what it means to be concerned by something and show concern for others.
"Kaila was luminous,” Moi wrote in an email Tuesday. “She literally shone with passion for literature and ideas. I am so sad the world will never see the works she could have written.”
An enthusiastic traveler
John Brown said Duke's opportunities for travel were one of the things she loved most about the school.
“What she really loved was Europe, and London in particular was her favorite," he said. "Every chance she got, she was going somewhere new."
Brown served for two summers as an assistant to Sarah Beckwith, professor of English and theater studies, in the Duke in London Summer Arts program. Beckwith remembered Brown for her "warmth" and "immense compassion."
Beckwith also noted Brown's "great love of theatre," adding that she and Brown went to the theatre every night for the six weeks they were in London.
“I appreciated hugely her quickness of mind, wit, wide and capacious reading and effervescent excitement about London literary life,” Beckwith wrote in an email Tuesday. "She was capable of great joy and hilarity."
A "caring and generous friend"
Brown also touched those outside of the classroom. Many close to her described her as a kind and thoughtful friend.
Mindy Vawdrey Martins, Trinity '13, who said she knew Brown best when she was a sophomore and Brown was a first-year graduate student, described her as having a "genuine spirit."
"If she had something nice or positive to say, then she would say it," Martins said. "If she had a critique then she would also say it—but in the most loving way possible. She always spoke her mind.”
Martins said Brown was also kind, creative and fun-loving. She remembered with a laugh the Sunday that Brown—who had recently moved to Durham and was still unfamiliar with the area—biked all the way to church in Chapel Hill, underestimating the distance.
"She rode her bike all the way there, in her church clothes," Martins laughed. "That was just the kind of person she was. When she showed up, we couldn't believe it—we told her we'd give her a ride home."
Ken Rogerson, director of undergraduate studies at the Sanford School of Public Policy, met Brown at the local Latter-day Saints congregation.
He said his favorite memories with Brown are of the deep conversations they had about faith in philosophy—which he said did not always end with answers, but were beautiful nonetheless.
"She was never ashamed of who she was, and she was a pure, honest soul,” Rogerson said.
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