Employee Profile: Mo Brown, Plumber Leader

Worked at Louisville Water since 2005

Plumber Leader Mo Brown is coming up on 20 years of working at Louisville Water. It wasn’t in his master plan to end up here after graduating from DeSales High School in Louisville.

“I went to college. I bounced around, I got a degree in electronics which has nothing to do with water,” Brown said.

But somehow Brown did end up at Louisville Water and it turned into his career. He started as a general laborer, then worked in meter reading, transitioned to being a plumber leader’s assistant, and eventually moved up to plumber leader.

“We do a little bit of everything. We do (water) main breaks. We do services, valves,” Brown explained, saying what he likes about the job is, “just the variety of work and the crew I work with.” His favorite days are those with repairs that are a little more challenging and make him work to find the solution.

As you might imagine, the job can mean long hours some days, grueling conditions, and requires physical strength. Last year tested Brown’s physical and mental strength in ways he never imagined.

“My surgery was the 5^th. The day they called and said it’s cancer was Valentine’s Day of last year.”

Diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer, Brown’s life suddenly changed.

“I was off for 30 days and I came back. I went through six months of chemotherapy, but I never missed one day of work for treatment. I went and got treatment, and came back to work,” Brown shared. “It just worked out better for me to be at work. I wasn’t at full strength but it kind of kept my mind off it; kept me busy. I wasn’t going to let it (cancer) change my life, so I tried; yes, it was very hard.”

The tattoo on Brown’s arm says it all- “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.”

His determination is inspiring. Colon cancer is the second deadliest cancer but is treatable when caught early. Brown is grateful his recent checkup showed everything is normal.

“It gave me a new outlook on life. You know, my priorities totally changed. Stuff that you used to think was big… You just think differently. It changed me greatly.”

One thing that hasn’t changed is what it means to Brown to work at Louisville Water.

“Pride. We’re supposed to be one of the best water companies in the United States. We’re a part of that, so that’s special,” he said.

What else is special to Brown is his wife and two sons. Quality time is certainly a little sweeter these days.

“I spend a lot of time at the lake, (I’m) a big hunter, fisher; we go to the lake every weekend. We’re planning on moving down there when I retire.”

Fortunately for us, that’s a little further down the road.

“I’ve got seven years to go.”