BROOKHAVEN — A friendly voice called out “how are you doing,” from a front patio on Alford Circle close to where The Dart landed Thursday afternoon. Kenosha Stewart wore a white top with floral pants as she relaxed in the warm spring air.

She has called Brookhaven home for the last 20 years but has lived in Canton and Michigan where she was born. Lansing, Michigan was her home off and on until she turned 13 and then she moved to Canton where she graduated high school.

Her mom is originally from Brookhaven, she lived in Chicago and moved to Brookhaven when Stewart’s grandmother passed and Stewart followed. She said the two towns may be close in distance but they are very different.

“Canton is a small town that is fast paced,” Stewart said. “Brookhaven is slower. It is a great place to raise a family and for children. Brookhaven has a good school district.”

After graduating from high school, she started working as a certified nursing assistant at Silver Cross Nursing Home by Kings Daughters Medical Center in Brookhaven. She left the nursing home after seven years to work as a pharmacy technician at Banes Pharmacy.

Banes closed in 2021 after 67 years of service to the Brookhaven community. Stewart said she left there after working for 10 years and found a job at Walmart. Her job involves the dispensing of medicine, talking to doctors about insurance and providing customer service.

“I enjoy it. I like the people,” Stewart said. “I am a helper. Just to know I’m helping someone helps me. I enjoy it a lot. Helping people is what got me working at the nursing home.”

Outside of work, she attends church on the first and third Sundays at Crump Chapel in Brookhaven.

Her free time is occupied by two things. Fishing and gardening, a new hobby she is trying out. Potted plants sat in her flower bed, a few azaleas and a climbing rose bush which she bought Thursday. She said she would usually buy fake flowers.

Fishing is her favorite pastime. She started when she was nine with her grandmother in Michigan. The experience was great and catching her first fish was “awesome.” Since living in Brookhaven, she mostly goes out and fishes at local ponds or on occasion Lake Lincoln.

“My grandmother was really into it and to do it with her, I loved fishing,” Stewart said. “I’m trying to catch whatever I catch. I don’t have a favorite fish to fish for. I’m good at fishing. When you are good you are interested in it. I usually bring fish home if I go and I usually out fish other people. It is a peaceful hobby where you can think a lot.”