Longtime Polk County supervisor Robert Brownell to retire after wife's Alzheimer's diagnosis

A longtime figure in Polk County politics announced Monday that he will retire after his current term as Polk County supervisor after his wife's diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease.

Robert Brownell, a Republican who is currently serving his sixth term on the Polk County Board of Supervisors, confirmed Monday night that he won't be running for re-election in 2024. He announced his decision on WHO-TV, saying he was stepping down in part because of his wife's condition and in part to give someone else a chance to serve.

Brownell's district includes Urbandale, Johnston, Grimes, Polk City, Alleman, Elkhart, Bondurant and Mitchellville. In a March 19 column for the Register, Brownell wrote that his wife Jenna, with whom he celebrated their 50th anniversary on August 2021 trip to Hawaii, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in February 2022.

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By mid-June, he said, she could not recognize him. They marked their 51st anniversary at a care home for people with late-stage Alzheimer's.

With the diagnosis, given to him by his wife's doctor in a brief morning phone call, "All the plans we’d had about our years ahead, the planning and saving, the night shifts at Yellow and Roadway, the various election campaigns, her work in insurance and jobs at the Iowa Legislature," the former trucking company manager wrote, "in just 60 seconds, it all evaporated."

Brownell also wrote of the effect on him as her caregiver.

"By May, I was overwhelmed," he wrote. "The disease ramped up aggressively, I felt like I had both hands in a dike holding back an ocean of despair and horror. On my side of the crumbling dike, it was all fear and, frankly, panic. I wasn’t eating properly, not working out. I was isolating."

He praised "the miracle of friends and family rallying around" them, helping them cope until a bed opened for his wife at the Arbor Springs late-stage Alzheimer's care facility in West Des Moines, "where she is getting terrific care."

Brownell was raised in Cedar Rapids, attended Missouri Military Academy in Mexico, Missouri, and graduated from Kennedy High School in his hometown. He attended the University of Northern Iowa as an undergraduate and Drake University for post-graduate work.

He was a branch manager for Yellow Transportation in Des Moines for 15 year and held management positions with Roadway Express across the Midwest.

Brownell was elected to the Clive City Council in 1985 and became mayor of Clive in 1993 before his election to the Polk County Board of Supervisors in 2000.

Chris Higgins covers the eastern suburbs for the Register. Reach him at [email protected] or 515-423-5146 and follow him on Twitter @chris_higgins.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Brownell to retire as Polk supervisor after wife's Alzheimer's diagnosis