Written by: Donna Porchi, Memory Care Activities Coordinator
Kingsworth Brown (pictured right), or more commonly known at The Kensington as “Mr. King”, is a man of honor, compassion and kindness. You know help is on the way when you see Mr. King. He has been with The Kensington since prior to our opening in 2011. He is a hard-working man who takes much pride in his position, humble and always smiling. He has a spirit to serve!
Kingsworth Brown is from the island of Jamaica. He has been married to his lovely wife Janette for 28 years, and together they have five loving kids; 3 boys (Andrew Brown, pictured left) and 2 girls, plus 4 grandchildren, 3 boys 1 girl. It’s no wonder when asked when he is happiest, his answer is when he has all his loving family around him.
Mr. King loves listening to reggae music, R&B, gospel and the old classics. When he is not working, he can be found watching basketball especially when LeBron James plays or, depending on the season, watching football and seeing Odell Beckham playing at his best. I asked Mr. King to tell me something that would surprise me. He answered, “I am a good cook and I do just about everything at home”. But that really is no surprise to me! He has a solid, close-knit family and he said that if he ever hit the lottery, he would buy a big house for all his family.
Before working at The Kensington, Kingsworth worked in the in the cruise industry for 21 years. This gave him the opportunity to travel to different countries from Europe to South America and the Caribbean islands. He worked as a Chief Housekeeper for 10 years with the Sea Escape Cruises, a one-day cruise company based in Miami Florida, and traveled to and from the Bahamas. Mr. King also worked with Norwegian Cruise Lines for 11 years as a dining room waiter.
Mr. King’s favorite quote is very good advice, “Sometime in life you got to make two steps backward so you can make room for a positive step forward”. Since I first met Mr. King, I knew right away he was a kind, loving and gentle soul. He always sees the positive aspect of a situation.
The one thing Mr. King says he cannot live without is love, and the one thing he cannot resist is shopping for a nice new pair of shoes. “Mr King, what would you do if you weren’t doing this?” His answer, “I would be an I.T. Technician because the world is going all out with new technology and I would love to be part of it by making and repairing gadgets.”
When Kingsworth is at work, you can clearly see he is working from the heart. Every single day he goes above and beyond for anyone and everyone. I asked, if you could switch your job with anyone else within The Kensington whose job would you want? He proudly said, “No one’s – I enjoy working as the Housekeeping Supervisor, keeping it clean, and most of all caring for our resident’s needs,” and he went on to say, “for me, each and every day is a blessing, so I would never switch”.
When asked what he likes most about working at The Kensington, Mr. King said that it’s like a part of him, “a family from the top to the bottom”. Since Kingsworth Brown is one of the first hired team members at The Kensington, I had to ask him what advice he would give to new hires. He said, “Be yourself and give the respect, love and care for your residents as you would do for your family and fellow employees. You should always treat every day at work like it’s your first day’.” That’s good advice to me!