Dr. Elbert D. Brooks

Dr. E.D. Brooks, our dad and “Papa”, left this life unwillingly on January 14, 2015.

He was over 100, but there were still things he HAD to do. Dad was well on his way to his 101st birthday on April 4, but was waylaid by a bad fall in the night between Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. He fought valiantly for the next three weeks, downplaying his serious injuries so everyone would think he was all right.

Appearance mattered to him. Looking sharp was nearly as important to him as being fit. He was one of a kind in his assisted living home, insisting on wearing ironed slacks with a sharp crease, a hand-tooled belt and starched shirts to the end. When he was out and about, he enjoyed the compliments he received on his tweed jacket, handsome felt hat and shined Italian leather shoes.

Work and Play But throughout his life and to his final days, he took his responsibilities seriously. Thirty five years into “retirement” he would ask daily, “What’s next? What do we have to do today? If it’s just fun, it will have to wait.”

But fun didn’t always wait. Along the way he was a top athlete in several sports, played saxophone in a dance band and learned to dance from his father. He loved to dance and he and Charlotte were beautiful dance partners. He drove country roads at age 12, and at that age, worked at a dairy. He asked for, and got “a man’s pay for a man’s job,” milking cows before school.

When he wasn’t attending summer school, he was refereeing games, working at the railroad roundhouse in Tucson, or working for the Forest Service as a fire-spotter up in a lookout in the mountains. He navigated the planes that took John Wayne to USOs and senators around the world during War time. He played poker, acted in plays, was a championship runner and an artists’ model in college. He trained for cross country by running to the top of Mt. Wrightson in the Santa Ritas, and held a cross country record (until the course was changed) for racing on Humphreys Peak near Flagstaff, the highest point in Arizona. Elbert was serious about his work AND his play.

His Education and His Life’s Work: E.D. devoted his life to education and worked to give every child the opportunity to receive the best education possible. He was keenly aware of the critical importance of education to a democracy. Dr. Brooks was a champion of public education and an advocate for those who worked and studied in our public school systems.

He began his own education in the hilly grasslands of Sonoita and Elgin, Arizona, where his parents, Ira D. and Lillian Stayton Brooks, brought him before his first birthday, from Chandler, Arizona, to their new homestead. Two brothers and a sister followed: Sidney (Myrle Hooks), Stayton (Rose Wearne) and sister Margaret (Philip Gardner). Dr. Benjamin B. Moeur, Lillian’s neighbor, college mentor and the future governor of Arizona, delivered the Brooks babies. She was a 1912 graduate of Tempe Normal School, the teachers’ college that would later become Arizona State University.

All The Brooks’ worked hard, ranching, farming and trapping to make ends meet. Some years, Lillian traveled a weekly circuit to teach school in several small mining settlements in Santa Cruz County. She took her children with her and was their teacher, too. They slept in the school houses, returning home on the weekends to cook, clean and prepare for another week.

During the Depression, Elbert (barely 17) left the homestead to work his way through college in Flagstaff. As a senior, he was asked to keep an eye on a shy new freshman, Charlotte Lee. He did, and by February they were married. She was with him, supporting him every step of the way. She held things together at home, tending to their family of four children (Jim, John, Beverly and Bonnie) while volunteering and serving her own favorite community organizations, among them, the American Red Cross and the YWCA. Down-to-earth Charlotte, her husband’s match in every important way, passed away in 1996.

Elbert earned a bachelor’s degree from (what is now) Northern Arizona University, his master’s degree from the University of Arizona and his doctorate from Stanford University. Along the way, he taught at Pleasant Valley, Patagonia High and Tucson High – chemistry, physics and math, with athletics on the side.

He was active in many organizations and professional groups, and in politics as well (in the background), working toward excellence in education for all. Among his many positions, he served as president of the Arizona Education Association; Arizona president of the American Association of School Administrators; Tucson YMCA president; Middle Tennessee YMCA board of directors; Kiwanis president, Tucson; and more.

While at Tucson High during the War, he wrote a manual to teach aeronautical navigation skills to his students. After seeing so many of them leaving school to serve in the war, he decided he had to go, too. Brooks served for three years as a U.S. Naval navigator in the Pacific and South Pacific during World War II and retired from the Naval Reserve with the rank of captain. He also served as commander of the local Naval Reserve unit in Tucson.

As a teacher, dean of boys and an administrator at Tucson High, he continued working on his advanced degrees every summer over the years. He became so enthused about the possibility being involved in new approaches to education, Superintendent Dr. Robert Morrow finally gave in and named him the first principal of Pueblo High School in the mid 1950’s. The school received national recognition as a top school for its educational innovations and was featured in Harper’s Bazaar Magazine.

In 1970 he was recruited by Metro Schools in Nashville to serve as director of schools and to facilitate the impending desegregation of the public schools. He remained in that position until his retirement in 1980. He loved Tennessee -- especially the people -- and made it his home until returning to Tucson in 2012 (at the age of 97) in time to reconnect with family and old friends.

The Brooks Family

Elbert was preceded in death by his wife, Charlotte Lee Brooks, his son James Elbert Brooks and grandson, James Lee Brooks.

Also his parents, Ira D. and Lillian S. Brooks, his brothers Sidney E. Brooks (Myrle Hooks) and J. Stayton Brooks (Rose Wearne) and sister Margaret Elizabeth Brooks (Philip Gardner).

Surviving family members include son John Stayton Brooks (Carol), daughters Beverly Brooks Goodwin (friend Jeffrey Rill), Bonnie Brooks Wallace (Stephen) and daughter-in-law, Mary Caarls Brooks.

Grandchildren: Mary Beth Brooks Walker (John), John C. Brooks (Sue), Jeffrey E. Brooks (Julie), Laura Goodwin Jenkins (Pete), Walter B. Goodwin, J. David Brooks (Celeste Miller), Douglas A. Brooks (Jeanne DeLoria) and Jason M. Thrasher.

Great grandchildren: Matthew Walker (Madison), Johnny Walker (Amanda), Devin Brooks, Jonathan Brooks, Justin Brooks, Brandon Brooks, Jaime Brooks, W. Alexander Goodwin, Kelsi Jenkins, Megan Jenkins, Ben Brooks, Andrew Brooks, Claire Brooks and great, great grandchild, Avery Walker. He is also survived by nephews, nieces and other extended family members

Memorial Gatherings: A Celebration of Life will be held inTucson on Saturday, February 28, 2015, 10:00 a.m. at the East Lawn Palms Chapel, 5801 E. Grant Road 85712. Following the service, a U.S. Navy honor guard will conduct a graveside ceremony. A reception for friends and family follows.

A service will also be held in Nashville, Tennessee, at Brookmeade Congregational Church, UUC, 700 Bresslyn Road, Nashville, TN 37025, at 10:30 a.m. on March 28. Elbert’s minister, friend and neighbor in Tennessee, Rev. Daniel Rosemergy, will officiate at both services.

In Lieu of Flowers . . . In lieu of flowers, friends may wish to consider contributions to the Arizona Daily Star Sportsmen Fund’s “Send a Kid to Camp” program: http://azsendakidtocamp.org/donations Donations qualify for Arizona tax credits.

Pueblo Magnet High School: https://tusdstats.tusd1.org/paweb/utility/taxcredit/school.aspx Find the “School” box on this web page. Scroll down to “Pueblo Magnet High School,” then choose the school activity you wish to support with your contribution. Donations to TUSD schools can qualify for Arizona tax credits.

In Nashville: Friends may wish to consider gifts to the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research and Education. http://vkc.mc.Vanderbilt.edu/giving/

To support access by students to a great public education: Nashville Public Education Foundation: http://www.nashvillepef.org

The YMCA of Middle Tennessee: https://give.ymcamidtn.org/page.aspx?pid=298

Nice article about Brooks by Bonnie Henry, Arizona Daily Star 3/15/2099: http://tucson.com/news/local/bonnie-henry-pueblo-s-first-principal-fondly-recalls-the-details/article_08fde13c-903f-5a12-bc2c-d3bf94615e21.htm