Nina Brown grew up in Uxbridge, England, just a twenty minute drive from Wimbledon. 

In August 1939 she traveled to Forest Hills to represent Great Britain in a Wightman Cup match against the United States. She had reached the mixed doubles final at Wimbledon that summer and won the Scandinavian championship. During her stay Germany invaded Poland and Great Britain declared war. She was stranded. 

She took a job as a recreation hostess at a winter resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. It suited her warm, magnetic personality. There she met Everett Hamilton. They married in 1941 and settled in St. Louis. She raised four children and never stopped playing. She won the St. Louis Muny and district titles and a Missouri Valley championship. 

As president of the St. Louis Tennis Patrons Foundation she developed junior tennis in the city. She became the first woman president of the St. Louis District Tennis Association. 

Britain's loss was St. Louis' gain. 

Nina Hamilton died at home on April 22, 2018. She was 103. 

(1993)