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In Memoriam: Velda Brotherton
VELDA BROTHERTON: 1936—2023
It is with overwhelming sadness that we mourn the passing of the one and only Velda Brotherton. She was our friend, our mother, our mentor, our matriarch. The glue that held us all together. A talented, multi-genre author, an award-winning journalist, a dogged adventurer. Perhaps most of all, though, she will be remembered as the wise, patient, and loving teacher of the generations of writers who passed through the Northwest Arkansas Writers’ Workshop over the past thirty-five years.
When her longtime friend and writing partner, legendary Western author Dusty Richards, passed away five years ago, all anyone could talk about was how there would never be another one like him, but the very same thing can be said about Velda. She was larger than life in her very own right and could light up a room with her mischievious grin and that sparkle in her eye. She had the kind of fun-loving, devil-may-care spirit that got her and many of her fellow writers in trouble with venues when they got a little too raucus and rowdy. Brilliant, kind, patient, loving, beautiful in body and soul, she could make you laugh one minute with her singular wit and cry the next as you poured out your heart to her… or vice versa.
Velda was an inspiration to every person she met and every writer she helped mentor, and she will be missed by all. For our part, her passing leaves a hole in our lives that can never be filled. She was not only our colleague and business partner, but our friend, as well. Consolation only comes with knowing she’s now free from her suffering and probably sitting around that big campfire in the sky with her buddies Dusty and Pat Richards and her beloved husband, Don.
Godspeed, Velda. You will be forever in our hearts and never forgotten.
