Leila Nell Brown was born in Birmingham, Alabama on September 23, 1925. She was the second of four children, all girls. Nell finished high school before her seventeenth birthday. She loved theatre from a young age and started writing and conducting plays with family and friends at the age of twelve. This led to a lifetime of writing books and plays and producing community theatre productions.
Nell graduated at the age of nineteen from Howard College, in Alabama, with a degree in English and Theatre. She taught in Talladega, Alabama for two years, then accepted a teaching position at Sterling Junior College in Sterling, Colorado in 1947. She boldly ventured out of the wooded landscape of Alabama to the treeless plains of Colorado, where she quickly fell in love with the wide-open spaces and amazing blue skies.

Several years later she obtained a Master’s degree in Theatre at the University of Denver. Having developed a love for the West, her master’s thesis was an original historical pageant-play about the history of Northeastern Colorado called “Where the Buffalo Roamed”. In 1956 she produced and directed this outdoor pageant at the Sterling Fairgrounds, which was a huge undertaking for a young ranch wife, mother and budding historian, as there were 350 cast members and 150 people in the crew!

Nell met her husband, Thomas Keith Propst, in 1948 at the University of Denver, and it was love at first sight--they were married on October 7, 1949. Following Keith’s service in the Korean War, they returned to live and work on the Propst Bar 3 Ranch in Merino, Colorado.

In spite of the demands of ranch life, Nell managed to direct numerous community theatre productions, and to research and write over 30 plays, books and short stories--as well as many other magazine and newspaper articles, book reviews and contributions. She was a true historian of northeastern Colorado.

One of Nell’s most memorable plays was a musical titled “Make A Joyful Noise” that she wrote about the Propst family to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Bar 3 Ranch. The musical was performed at Merino High School in 1976 before sold-out audiences. It portrayed Keith’s parents and grandparents, ranching pioneers and founders of the Propst Ranch who helped settle Logan County.

Despite her many professional accomplishments, family and associates can attest that Nell’s greatest attribute was her steadfast devotion as a friend, mentor, loving wife and mother.