Beverly Marie Brooks

Beverly Marie Brooks was born in California on January 7, 1927, but was reared on a citrus orchard outside of Phoenix, Arizona. Her maiden name was Graham. She graduated with honors from high school and then majored in social work at the University of Arizona. She then worked on her Masters at Stanford University before marrying John Brooks on January 8, 1949. Since engineering jobs were scarce in Arizona, they moved to Detroit where Beverly worked as a social worker. Soon tiring of the cold, they moved to California in the early 1950's where her husband designed chain saws while she worked as a social worker for the Los Angeles County Hospital. Soon she discovered that library work interested her more and became a librarian. In 1958 daughter Barbara was born. In 1964 she experienced a frightening near-brush with death when she had a molar pregnancy and yet both she and her husband earnestly desired more children. Once she regained her health, they adopted Perry (now living in Boulder) and James (now living in Flagstaff). They lived in Los Angeles until 1978 when an opportunity opened for them to move to Arizona as they had longed to do many years before. As the children grew, Beverly became active in her church, did crafts such as drying flowers and quilts. She and her husband also ran a mobile home park and motel for a time, while she became an avid investor. One summer while accompanying her husband on a consulting business trip, they visited Red Wing and fell in love. For over a decade they spent their summers in Red Wing and were active in the Presbyterian church. During the last few years of her life, Beverly dedicated herself to caring for her husband as he suffered from Parkinsons. In 2005 he passed away. In June, 2008, she settled her affairs in Arizona and returned to Red Wing to make it her permanent home. After several severe strokes over a 10 day period, she passed away on October 15, 2008. Her daughter, Barbara Brooks, lives in LaVernia, Texas and is married to Winston Steward. She is a registered nurse. They have two children, Trevor Steward, who lives in Barcelona, Spain and teaches English, and Larisa Steward Castro, who is a schoolteacher in San Antonio and married to Ron Castro. Her son Perry is a landscape architect with a masters in public relations. He works and resides in the Boulder area. He is married to Betsey Paige, who is a hospice social worker. They have a two year old son, Owen. Her son James owns a franchise of Floor Coverings, International in Flagstaff, Arizona. His wife Amy is a surgical nurse. Their daughter Hannah is eleven and their daughter Libby is seven. We will greatly miss the matriarch of our family who gave herself so much for us over the years and always encouraged us to do our best in our education, work and family.