Eileen Brown knows and loves Whidbey Island — its weather and its history. But most of all Brown loves people who make Whidbey their home.

“I love meeting people. They are absolutely amazing,” Brown said while admiring trees in Oak Harbor’s Smith Park.

The Garry oak tree-filled park was one of the first places she brought her son, Marcus, to play when they moved to Whidbey Island more than 30 years ago.

“Marcus was fascinated by the oak trees,” she said. “He tried to reach around them.”

Her son’s affection for the trees matched Brown’s affection for Whidbey Island.

“The first time I saw Whidbey Island, I felt the island wrapped its arms around me and said ‘welcome’, ” she said. “I feel safe here. It’s home.”

Brown recently retired after editing “The Crosswinds,” the paper for Whidbey Island Naval Air Station for 22 years. While in that position she interviewed everyone from recruits, the lowest enlisted rating, to the commandant of the Marine Corps.

“I learned that everyone I spoke to was a good person,” Brown reminisced. “And everyone loves to read about other people.”

After years interviewing such a diverse crowd, Brown’s itching to return to writing. Wednesday, Aug. 4, “Life on Whidbey,” will appear in the Whidbey News-Times. Brown said she will fill her weekly submissions with anecdotes and sidebars.

“I’ll be writing news that’s too good not to tell everyone,” she chuckled in her soft, but distinctive, rasp.

Brown hopes her column will draw readers longing to learn what’s going on across town or across the street.

“People are so closed off today,” Brown lamented. “We’re on computers, on cell phones. We don’t take the time to ask others, ‘So, what’s going on in your life?’ ”

Brown plans on covering a bit of everything in her column to counter such introverted isolation. From grocery store conversations, to visits from long-lost relatives and friends, she’s excited about hearing what people are doing and discussing.

But her column will be a bit exclusive. She’s not looking for news of record like local births, graduations from boot camp or obituaries. Instead, she wants to unearth the fascinating details of life on Whidbey. Brown craves to profile personalities and amusing facets of daily life.

As an example, she cites a chance conversation years ago when she asked a simple question. As Brown tells it, a grocery store had a sale on broccoli. One man had covered the bottom of a shopping cart with stalks and stalks of broccoli. Brown couldn’t resist asking the man why he was buying such quantity. Was he was going to blanch and freeze it?

“I don’t know,” the man replied. “My wife told me to buy a bunch of broccoli.”

“Isn’t that delicious,” Brown recalled, rocking on a bench in Smith Park’s gazebo.

“That’s material I want to write about — the innocent, hilarious details of daily life.”

While Brown’s eager to expose purchasing follies and interpersonal foibles, she sobers when discussing serious topics such as animals and the environment

“I’m concerned about what happens to trees, land and water,” she said. “And I’m concerned about the health and welfare of people who live on Whidbey.”

Brown includes history and animals in her passions. She shares her home with three cats Boomer, Bella and Rocky. Brown also shelters Lenny. “He’s my granddog,” she said.

She has volunteered at Whidbey Animal Improvement Foundation. She’s active with the PBY Memorial Foundation which is working to bring a naval aviation historic center to Whidbey Island. The centerpiece of the center would be the PBY Catalina seaplane, the first plane that flew from Whidbey Island.

“I want people to know that 40 and 50 years ago, sailors — and their families — slept in recently cleaned and partitioned chicken coops because housing was so scarce. In the morning, they kissed their wives and flew into danger,” she said.

Brown admits she has a soft spot for anyone who has served in the military.

“They’ve made such sacrifices,” she said. “They deserve a special thank you.”

Brown’s material — people, military, pets — may not seem to differ from the columns of the late Dorothy Neil, a Whidbey News-Times reporter and columnist for decades. Brown, however, doesn’t see her work replacing Neil’s often-hallowed prose.

“I can’t walk in Dorothy’s shoes,” Brown said. “No one can.”

Brown confesses to holding Dorothy in “exceptional fondness” for helping her through difficult times years ago.

“Dorothy was the city’s sweetheart,” she said. “I can’t replace her, no one can.”

Brown, however, will continue with Neil’s tradition of writing about local life and times.

“People love to read about other people and know what they want to see in their paper,” she said while taking a spin on Smith Park’s merry-go-round.

Let Eileen know

To submit information to Life on Whidbey, e-mail Lifeonwhidbey@yahoo.com or leave material at the Whidbey News-Times’ front desk, 800 SE Barrington Dr.