To know Brooke was to know pure joy. Her laughter was infectious, and her joy was reflected in her smile. It's still hard to write about her in past tense and even harder to accept that she's really gone.
To say Brooke was a great mom doesn't even come close to describing her. She was a mom, a friend, a life coach, a cheerleader, a counselor, and of course a cook, chauffeur, and ATM machine. She was there to celebrate, to encourage, and to be the shoulder to cry on. She was THERE. If her kids were doing something, there was Brooke.
She was wife to Jon, mom to Haddie, Berkeley, Ian, & Cale, daughter to Bob & Cookie, sister to Jon, Spencer, Meg, & Hannah, and friend to hundreds.
Brooke was an avid runner and completed multiple full and half marathons supporting St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Susan G. Komen Foundation, and other charities. She worked at various local banks for several years, followed by six years at the Arkansas Department of Transportation, and for the last 11 years of her life, she worked for the Nettleton School District.
At Brooke's funeral, we were all awestruck and yet not really surprised to hear how many people just said "She was my best friend". That was Brooke. If she was with you, she was with you fully. You had all of her. Brooke was focused on others and that's a deep part of what makes this so important to all of us, to live up to her example.
Brooke did not hide her feelings. She was REAL. What you saw was what you got. She would tell you what you need to hear when you needed to hear it, even when you didn’t want to.
We found out shortly after her passing that her cancer was more widespread than expected and the outlook wasn’t good. Sometimes God’s grace doesn’t look like what we expect it to, or feel like we want it to. Brooke didn't suffer, but we would give anything to have her here with us. Focusing on early detection is our attempt to save others from the heartbreak we've been through.