________________ LONG BEACH _______________
HERALD Also serving Point Lookout & East Atlantic Beach
Ford honored by legislature
Easter Bunny visits l.B. early
School board starts budget talks
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Vol. 35 No. 14
MARCH 28 - APRIl 3, 2024
$1.00
Turning her tragic loss into help for others
Joel Russell Brown, who recently moved to Long Beach, appeared in ‘the Lion King,’ on Broadway or on tour, about 350 times. He spent years doing other shows, auditioning for ‘Lion King’ and taking african dialect classes before finally being offered a role in 2005. He spent 12 years with the show, filling in as Mufasa and Scar, and performing in the chorus of hundreds of shows.
la said. “The first responders that showed up, they’re the first ones on the scene, and they In the aftermath of tragedy, have to see more traumatic sights than anyone, including Angela Skudin found herself not only grappling with enor- myself, and they all took it mous loss, but also recognizing home.” Skudin, who joined the a significant gap in support for those who endure traumatic FDNY after the Sept. 11 attacks, worked at Ladder incidents like hers. 137 in Rockaway That prompted the B e a ch , a n d h a d creation of the received a number Casey Skudin 343 of awards for his Fund. rescue ef forts, A n g e l a ’s h u s including during band, Long Beach Hurricane Sandy native Casey Skuin 2012. din, a decorated ANGElA SkudIN Not long after he New York City firedied, Angela estabfighter and a mem- founder, lished the Casey ber of t h e Casey Skudin Skudin 343 Fund, r e n o w n e d L o n g 343 Foundation dedicated to aiding Beach Skudin surffirst responders in ing family, died on June 17, 2022, at 3:43 p.m., in an accessing holistic and alternaaccident in a windstor m in tive treatments for trauma and mental health difficulties arisNorth Carolina. Skudin was driving with ing from work their work at Angela and their two sons on fires, accidents and other emerCasey’s 46th birthday when a gencies. “It affected every single one tree limb fell on their car at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. of them on a different level, Angela was unhar med, but because they were a first Casey was killed, and their responder,” Angela said. “And youngest son, C.J., sustained then having gone through it as a widow, there was just this injuries and was hospitalized. “I had learned at the scene need for spousal support that of my husband’s death,” AngeContinued on page 5
By ANGElINA ZINGARIEllo
azingariello@liherald.com
H
e was a hero. He helped everyone.
Courtesy Joel Russell Brown
Meet ‘Lion King’s’ Mufasa, a new Long Beach neighbor By BRENdAN CARPENTER bcarpenter@liherald.com
Russell Joel Brown has had an enviable career as an actor, appearing on Broadway hundreds of times, and becoming a millionaire along the way. Brown’s journey has been a unique one, with no shortage of ups and downs. All he has done and all has been through so far, he said, has led him to Long Beach, where he moved in January. Brown, 60, grew up in Augusta, Georgia, the youngest of seven children. His parents
sent two of his siblings to an Episcopal school in 1965, and they were its first Black students. The public schools in Augusta weren’t integrated until 1971. Brown considers that time very important in his own development, because, he said, “We were a black family growing up in the segregated South there, and this major event has happened for a family with support from the school, and from our church, and from the Black community as well as some people in the white community.” His sister Karen was a talented ballet Continued on page 10