Simpson Kids Coping Well, Say Grandparents

The family of Nicole Brown Simpson said Saturday that her young children are demonstrating “the uncanny ability to momentarily set aside life’s bitterness to enjoy life’s goodness” and are coping well with the tragedies of the past week.

In an eloquent statement, the Brown family described the children’s efforts to deal with their mother’s death and their own attempts to begin the slow process of recovering from the bizarre string of events that began with Nicole’s slaying and ended with the arrest of her ex-husband, O.J. Simpson.

“By no means are things ‘normal,’ so to speak, but with the immense love and support we are all receiving from each other, we will all survive stronger in spirit, stronger as people, and stronger as a family,” said the statement, which also was signed by Jason and Arnelle Simpson, O.J. Simpson’s children by his first marriage.

Sydney and Justin Simpson, ages 9 and 6, have spent the last few days at their grandparents’ home in Monarch Bay following as normal a routine as possible, riding bikes, fishing, going to the beach and playing handball, pogs and video games with their cousins and friends.

But they also have been counseled by a family priest, who said he has explained the concepts of God, death and heaven during a discussion with them at their grandparents’ home.

“We talked about where Mom had gone and they asked me some things about heaven and I tried to answer them,” said the Rev. Bruce Lavery, who officiated during Nicole Brown Simpson’s interment service Thursday at Ascension Cemetery in Lake Forest.

“The children were very, very aware that something had happened but they acted like any children: they would be solemn for a while and then start playing a game or playing with their toys again.”

For the Brown family, which started the week with the news that Nicole and a male friend had been savagely stabbed to death and that their in-law was the chief suspect, then made it through her memorial service, her burial and Friday’s wild conclusion to the saga, the past few days have taken their toll.

“We’re hanging in there. We’re doing OK,” said Denise Brown, Nicole Simpson’s older sister, on Saturday. The week had been devastating, she said, “but we have to try to keep our spirits up. We have to keep going because of the children.”

In fact, the presence of Sydney and Justin Simpson have helped comfort their relatives in the bleakest of moments last week.

“In the cold darkness of the night, our beloved Nicole was taken from us, but even from this black void of despair, there have been two bright lights of hope, peace and laughter,” the family wrote. “Our Nicole has left us two beautiful children who have touched us deeply within, helping us to heal our wounds of grief and depression.”

Family members are in seclusion in the gated Monarch Bay community in Dana Point and neighbors are fiercely protective of their privacy. The television is disconnected at times, Lavery said, apparently to protect the children from hearing news reports about their mother and father.

But the Brown family--Louis and Juditha, their daughters Denise, Dominique and Tanya and son Rolf--have been thrust into the spotlight. Those who know them best say their closeness, their faith and their memories of Nicole are helping to pull them through.

“This is the true shattering of the American dream,” said Joseph W. Smith, a real estate agent in Monarch Bay who has known the Browns for years. “It’s a tragedy for a great family, a great athlete and a great athlete’s family. We live down here in Monarch Bay and we think we’re in God’s country, but tragedy can strike anywhere.”

In many ways, the Browns did live the American dream, raising a devoted and close-knit family in one of the country’s seaside garden spots, giving them the best of everything and watching as one of their daughters married one of the nation’s most popular athletes.

Lou Brown is a semi-retired real estate investor who once ran O.J. Simpson’s Hertz Rent A Car franchise at the the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Dana Point. The franchise was sold about five years ago, said John Dravinski, the hotel’s general manager.

The family matriarch, German-born Juditha, 63, was a full-time mom, raising Rolf, 45, Denise, 36, Nicole, Dominique, 29, and Tanya, 24.

Nicole Brown was born in Frankfurt, Germany, on May 19, 1959, and grew up in the Garden Grove neighborhood of Royal Park Estates. The two eldest girls attended Rancho Alamitos High School, and both studied German. By the mid-1970s, the family had moved to Monarch Bay, where the teen-agers attended Dana Hills High School.

“The girls were friendly, outgoing and popular,” said Eloise Meador, the guidance counselor at Rancho at the time. “This all just tears me up. My heart goes out to that family. They’ve been through such turmoil.”

It was at Dana Hills High that Nicole, or “Nick” as she was known, came into her own, feted as a homecoming princess in her senior year in 1976, two years after her sister Denise was given the same honor. Schoolmates remembered her as an attractive and gracious student who made an indelible mark on Dana Hills High.

In her high school yearbook, she revealed dreams of skiing Europe and becoming a fashion model. She advised classmates to “be yourself, don’t be a phony. . . .”

A former teacher at Dana Hills High School described her as a “beautiful girl” and “full of life.”

“She definitely came from an advantaged family,” said the teacher, who asked not to be named. “She wasn’t especially active in high school but was very popular. She had many, many friends.”

Chris Valdivia, 36, a high school friend, said the young woman’s family had moved to Monarch Bay during her sophomore year. But he said both Nicole and Denise Brown settled in quickly, making friends easily at their new school.

Valdivia, who took photography and “beach activities” classes with Nicole Brown during their junior year, said he saw her again occasionally when both were enrolled at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo in 1978, two years after they graduated from high school.

“She was a really good person, just really down-to-earth,” he said. “This is just so hard to believe.”

Shortly after her graduation from high school, the young woman began dating O.J. Simpson, one of the nation’s top professional football players. In 1985, they married and spent seven years together, some of it in the limelight of fund-raisers and parties and some of it more darkly, amid allegations of Simpson’s physical abuse of his wife.

They owned a beachfront house on Wards Terrace in Laguna Beach and threw raucous parties. O.J. would invite young beach-goers to join their gatherings. The couple also bought a mansion in Brentwood. Barry Elms, a Laguna Beach real estate agent, said the Laguna home was sold about eight months ago for about $1.5 million. The neighborhood had its share of celebrities, most notably the late Ricky Nelson and Bette Midler.

John Pentz of Newport Beach, the student body president at Dana Hills High School during their senior year, said Nicole Brown’s good looks and fame never went to her head, even after she married Simpson.

“She was always very friendly, always very sweet,” Pentz said.

Judie Manto, who has known the Brown family for 20 years, called Nicole “a splendid young woman. She was just what everyone thinks of as the perfect California girl. She loved the beach, skiing. She and her sisters were just remarkable. They had a good relationship with one another. They adored their parents.”

The past week has been made the family even closer, they say. At Thursday’s funeral service in Brentwood, Juditha Brown eulogized her daughter as “a great mom and a great friend.”

Lavery, who has counted the Browns among his congregation for many years, said the family was “coping pretty well.”

“They’re the type of people who rally at a time like this,” he said. “They’re very close-knit. They’re drawing a lot of support from each other right now.”

The priest visited the Browns’ Monarch Bay home on Wednesday, he said, when he was asked to counsel the Simpson children and those of other family members while the adults attended a viewing of the woman’s body at a Laguna Hills funeral home.

Lavery said he gathered the six children around him on the floor, talking to them about God, about death and about the funeral and burial services that would be held the next day.

Al Cowlings, the longtime friend of O.J. Simpson’s who acted as his driver during Friday’s freeway odyssey, stayed at the Brown home with the children to allow the others, including Simpson, to attend the viewing at the funeral home the day before the burial, Lavery said.

Lavery said the children--particularly Sydney, whom he described as a “little mother”--were trying to comfort one another. “They’re supporting each other, just as the adults are,” said the priest, who also officiated recently at the confirmation of Nicole’s youngest sister, Tanya, and the first communion of one of her nephews.

Joseph O’Connor, a longtime friend of the Browns and Laguna Hills funeral director who made the arrangements for the services, said he still cannot believe the circumstances of the past six days. “The situation is just so overwhelming at this point that all you can do is put it in God’s hands.”

Times staff writers Leslie Berkman, Rene Lynch, Jeff Brazil and Michael Granberry contributed to this report.

Brown Family Statement

Here is a statement Saturday from the Monarch Bay residence of Nicole Brown Simpson’s family. It is signed by the family and by O.J. Simpson’s two grown children from his first marriage.

In the cold darkness of the night, our beloved Nicole was taken from us, but even from this black void of despair, there have been two bright lights of hope, peace and laughter. Our Nicole has left us two beautiful children who have touched us deeply within, helping us to heal our wounds of grief and depression.

God in His grace has given these children, as He does all children, the uncanny ability to momentarily set aside life’s bitterness to enjoy life’s goodness. Although aware of their mother’s passing, they have been surrounded by caring, nurturing family members and friends who have provided an environment which has enabled the healing to begin.

Sydney and Justin have been playing handball, pogs, video games, and have been riding bikes, going to the beach, going fishing, and laughing with their cousins and friends. They are also being ministered to by our family’s priests.

By no means are things “normal,” so to speak, but with the immense love and support we are all receiving from each other, we will all survive stronger in spirit, stronger as people, and stronger as a family.

We thank everyone for their love and concern, and we ask that you please continue your prayers for Nicole and our family.

--The Brown Family with Jason and Arnelle Simpson