Obituaries

WILLIAM (BILL) HOWARD BROOKS

William (Bill) Howard Brooks was born in Kennedy, Saskatchewan January 11, 1939 to the Reverend James Brooks of Newcastle-upon Tyne, England and Alice M.Powers of Salisbury, New Brunswick.Six months later the family moved to Maryfield, Saskatchewan. In 1941 they moved back to Nova Scotia where William with his new Brother David (born 1942) spent summers on their uncle’s horse powered farm in Salisbury.

William attended high school in Digby Nova where he packed Scallops and worked in automotive garages in his spare time. In spite of a complete lack of natural talent he played saxophone in both civic and club bands and took church organ lessons. He attended Mount Allison university in Sackville N.B. where he received the B.A. and B.Ed Degrees. He then taught history for five years in the high schools of N.S. while completing an M.A. from Mount Allison through summer schools and correspondence courses; graduated in 1965. During his four years as an undergraduate he spent his summers on United church mission fields, serving on two in Saskatchewan and two in Alberta. He also started a long career in continuing education by teaching a history course for Acadia university at night in 1964. In summer 1965 he put his few belongings in a small English car (Triumph Herald) and drove very slowly (50 mph top speed) from N.S. to Winnipeg to enter the PH.D. program at the University of Manitoba. He studied and taught as a teaching assistant for three years. He married in 1966 and it took him until 1972 to finish his Doctoral thesis. In 1968 he was hired as a full-time staff member at the U of M. His teaching career lasted until 1999 and he combined it with overtime teaching in continuing Education, notably at the Winnipeg Education Centre, William served on the Manitoba Teacher licensing board for two terms as well as the United Church local and National archive boards. He was on curriculum committees in the Department of Education and various Universities. His marriage ended in divorce but produced two excellent sons. The younger son joined William in his South end Condominium in 1993. William lived there a total of 35 years. His great passion was for all things automotive, especially English cars. He owned most of the common ones and a few of the exotics such as a new 1968 Morgan 4/4. He also loved snowshoeing, goose hunting, fishing, cooking and rural Southwestern Manitoba.
Written by the one and only, Mr. William H.Brooks, March 2016

Bill brought his considerable intellectual gifts and a much-appreciated sense of humour to his lectures in Canadian history and received the Olive B. Staunton teaching award early in his career. He had the gift of providing inspiration to his students and will be remembered and missed by many.

Sadly, in his retirement, Bill developed Parkinson’s disease, which over time robbed him of his health, mobility and eventually his ability to communicate.
He bore this with patience, grace and even humour. The birth of his two grandsons Isaac and Felix in 2017 and 2022 was a welcomed gift.

William left His Brother David, two sons Morgan James (Janine W) and Adam Christopher (Laura G); Ex-wife Jill Brooks and many good friends to mourn him, late night on November 2nd at the Victoria General hospital in Winnipeg after 6 years in the Bethania personal care home.

There will be no public service. In his memory, it would be greatly appreciated if donations were made to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.