Evelyn D. Brooks, 94

NAPLES, Fla. — Evelyn Doris (Smith) Brooks died Friday, July 21, 2017, in Naples, of heart failure, at the remarkable age of 94.

She was born in London on Nov. 29, 1922, the oldest of three sisters and one brother.

Always a consummate leader, she started early with organizing grade school friends to put on shows for parents in the family’s back yard. At 11 years of age, she took ballet and tap dance lessons. For Christmas, she did pantomime onstage in Jack and Beanstalk and Cinderella. While at school, she took part in field hockey, tennis and ice skating. At age 15, she took elocution lessons to learn an upper-class accent. This accent and her skill at making friends would carry her far in the world.

After school, she was chosen as an extra in “Sing as We Go” with Gracie Fields and filmed at Ealing Studios. She also formed a dance troupe that entertained at the local theater for special affairs, and later performed for wounded soldiers.

In 1944 at a skating rink, she met Albert “Slick” Horace Brooks, an Army major working for General Eisenhower. Evelyn did not like American GIs, but a romantic Albert soon captured her heart, and they married in April 1945.

At the time she worked in the Halifax Bomber factory where she befriended the assistant to Norman Hartnell, the designer to Queen Elizabeth. The assistant designed Mom’s wedding dress out of household curtain material that didn’t require war coupons to purchase. The dress, naturally, was gorgeous, and so was she.

Albert, when in France after VE day, was struck down with an unnamed ailment (later recognized as PTSD) and was shipped to an Army hospital in Texas for a year. Evelyn took a transport ship to America where she landed with other war brides on Ellis Island, then to New York City, where she ate so much fresh fruit she became allergic to apples, peaches and bananas. She took a bus to Vermont, where she joined Albert’s loving family.

When “Slick” was discharged, they lived in Vermont, where Evelyn started two 4-H groups and taught young girls to sew. After Albert was hired as an IGA manager in Tilton, New Hampshire, they moved to Winnisquam, outside Tilton. Evelyn took U.S. citizenship in Laconia, New Hampshire, in 1947, and organized a local a war brides group. She held many offices, including president of the Laconia Business and Professional Women, vice president of the Lochmere Women’s Club, and member of the Laconia Altrusa Club. She played tennis and golf.

Evelyn and Albert were active in the American Legion Whiteman-Davidson Post 49, Tilton-Northfield, and soon took leading roles locally, statewide and nationally. Evelyn was past state president of the American Legion Auxiliary, and vice chairman of Girls Nation for two years. She maintained her membership and continued her loyalty to the Legion Auxiliary until her death.

Evelyn worked as a cosmetician at O’Shea’s Department Store in Laconia for many years.

She was also an active member of the Republican Party and worked for Eisenhower, Goldwater, and Nixon’s campaign. New Hampshire  Gov. Wesley Powell appointed her to the new State Milk Control Board.

After Albert’s early death in 1970, she met John Howe of Governors Island in Gilford. They eventually built a new home in Englewood, where she became regent of the Venice Florida Chapter of Daughters of the British Empire, an organization that supported assisted living and nursing homes for British war brides.

Evelyn and John’s lovely home became a meeting place for friends and family, especially for holidays and birthdays. Evelyn outlived John and most of her friends whom she loved and missed greatly. She was known for her thoughtfulness in sending cards to all of them on their birthday and at holidays.

After John’s death, she moved to Naples to be closer to her son.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Albert; her mother, Doris and father, James Smith; brother George, Canadian sister Vera McNeil, and partner John Howe.

Evelyn is survived by her sister Dorothy Durdin, of Wales; sister-in-law, Jean Smith of England; children Valerie Joy Brooks of Leaburg, Oregon, Kent Alton Brooks of Naples, and Wendy Eve-Lyn Brooks of Miami; by her grandson, Jason Holden of Oregon, and his daughters Alexandra, Maddisyn and Iree; and her great-grandsons, Holdynn and Royal; and her stepchildren, Jeff, James and Jeanne Howe, and their children.

Evelyn loved and cherished her children and was so grateful for their care and love.

A service will take place sometime in 2018 in New Hampshire.

She requested that donations in her name be sent to Disabled Veterans of America, or the Humane Society of Naples, Florida, in loving memory of her pooch, Tia Maria.