Baldwin native’s sign of respect

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Baldwin native Bill Brown handcrafted a new welcome sign after the previous one was vandalized last summer.
Baldwin native Bill Brown handcrafted a new welcome sign after the previous one was vandalized last summer.
Courtesy Baldwin Chamber of Commerce

Bill Brown doesn’t forget where he came from. His family ties to Baldwin have allowed him to do great things for his family, his friends and his hometown. So when the hamlet’s welcome sign on Sunrise Highway, at Milburn Avenue, was vandalized last summer, he knew what he had to do.

Brown, 51, a 1984 graduate of Baldwin High School who’s now a carpenter, lives in Cicero, N.Y., a small town just outside Syracuse. He has his own carpentry shop, called Hand Carved Signs by Bill Brown. He found out about the sign last August, when he returned to Baldwin to grieve with his family over the death of his brother Gene — one of Bill’s five older brothers.

Bill couldn’t stand to see the sign marred by graffiti. “It didn’t sit well with me,” he said. “The Chamber of Commerce tries their best to keep everything nice, but you can’t keep up with vandalism.”

Brown contacted chamber President Erik Mahler and told him he would like to create a brand new “Welcome to Baldwin” sign to donate to the town. Mahler explained that the hamlet was planning to replace the sign the following year, but he was thrilled to find out that a former resident was willing to help. “I thought it was fantastic that an individual who’s no longer living in Baldwin stepped up to the plate,” he said.

Once Mahler gave Brown the go-ahead, he went home to his shop and hand-carved the new sign, which now stands on Sunrise Highway. When it was installed in March, it was dedicated in Gene’s honor.

Another of Bill’s brothers, Jerry Brown, a supervisor for the Baldwin Fire Department, said that Bill’s selfless act meant a lot to the residents. “It gives everyone hope,” Jerry said.

As it happens, Bill is no stranger to selfless acts. He was a volunteer fire fighter in the Baldwin Fire Department who helped in the clean up efforts after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Throughout his life, he said, he has simply viewed himself as a hard worker from Baldwin. “I’m not a millionaire, and I never will be,” he said. “I’m just a blue-collared worker.”

A father of four, Brown said that no matter where his life has taken him, his brothers or his hometown friends, they can never stay away from Baldwin for too long. He affectionately referred to this phenomenon as the Baldwin curse. “Everyone who grew up in Baldwin has a very strong attachment to it,” he said. “It doesn’t matter where you are — where you’re from is what makes you who you are.”