Some info about the Brooks's

Wheat and Jean Brooks

Apparently my whole family is from Commerce or surrounding areas.

My grandparents on my dad's side were married in September of 1947 and were married for 55 years at the time of my grandmothers death.

Her obituary read...

"IVA JEAN MOORE precious wife and loving mother went t be with the Lord on Tuesday, January 20, 2004. She was born on September 20, 1929 in Wilson, Texas. Preceded in death by her parents, Grady and Effie Moore and brother, Gerald Moore. She is survived by her husband of 55 years, Wheat Brooks of Rockwall, TX; children Judy Ann Snellings and husband David of Plano; Mark Brooks and wife Cathy of Rockwall; grandchildren, David Scott Snellings, Bradley Trey Brooks, Jordan Lance Brooks, Sarah Beth Costa and David Wade King; sister Billy Joyce Stribling of Burleson, brothers J.C. Moore and Lenton Ray Moore if Commerce. Service will be held 10:00 a.m., Friday January 23, 2004 at First Baptist Church of Heath, TX. Interment Restland Memorial Park. Family will receive friends from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m., Thursday, January 22, 2004. Jean will forever be remembered for her love of family, kindness to friends and great faith in the Lord."

Wheat and Jean Brooks Wedding

I have many memories of my grandmother, or Nanny, as the family called her. She was the best cook in the world, and I'm not just saying that. She could cook anything and it be the best thing you ever put in your mouth. I can still taste some buttermilk pie, chicken casserole, biscuit and gravy for breakfast.

Wheat and Jean Brooks

The one thing that I will never forget about my grandmother is that her and my grandpa, Wheat, always took me to church. I started going to church with them while I was in 5th grade... my mom would drop me off at their house on Saturdays and I would stay with them through Sunday night and go to church with them on Sunday. After church we would come home and she would fix me and my grandpa lunch and we would watch the Cowboys play and then take a nap.

My grandfather, Wheat, is nothing short of the best man ever. He knows everything about everything. He was born on October 21, 1928. Wheat is the only blood grandpa that I knew and I only saw my step grandpa every-now-and-then.  Growing up my brother and I always had a fourwheeler and we would ride them hard just like boys would do. When my parents divorced my dad moved out and luckily this set of grandparents lived right next door. I loved that they lived next door. So when something would go wrong with our fourwheelers my grandpa would fix it... usually it took no more than a few minutes for him to fix it. He taught me and my brother everything we know about fixing things like that. My grandpa would buy us gas for them anytime we needed it and it drove our parents crazy that he did that, but we were his grandkids and he didn't care. He would change the oil in them as well.

My grandfather is a one-of-a-kind... and I am so thankful that I know him.

Shipley - Step side

I interviewed my step mom and got some information about my step family.

My step mom is the 8th on the top from the left

Cathy Brooks, maiden name Shipley, was born on October 6, 1952. Her parents were Jack and Jo Shipley. Growing up she said that she had a friend say that her family was like the family on Leave it to Beaver... she would call her parents June and whoever the mans name was. She said that they had a very normal and fun childhood and that they didn't take very many vacations but occasionally they would take a family vacation. Her mother did not work, would stay at home and cook all the meals. They would have dinner at the table every night. A special treat would be going to the cafeteria for dinner. One of her dads favorite sayings was "get what you want, but eat what you get".

Jack Shipley

Jack Shipley, or "POP" as us grandkids would call him was a wonderful guy, said my step mom. He wasn't strict but he was firm and had rules to follow and if the rules were not followed then they would be punished for them.  He was a hard worker all his life and he finally landed a good job at Watson's Electric Company and was able to move the family to the house that I know of and lived there for over 50 years now.  Pop loved to play softball and was deacon at the church for sometime. One of his favorite things to do was to nickname people. Not only did he have nicknames for family members but he would also nickname friends and my nickname was "Sheriff Gordon" I'll never forget that. Another special thing that he liked to do was collect pocket knifes. And at one time he sold out and only kept a few, but then he started collecting again and had a good collection again. Sadly, Pop passed away in November of 2006.

Jo Shipley

Joe Shipley, aka "Grandmother" was a good mother and my step mom said that if she could be half the mom that her mom was to her kids then she would be in good shape. Grandmother was a very Godly woman, as previously said she didn't work and would be a regular homemaker. She would sew dresses for the kids and it would be no surprise that one of the girls would come home and tell her that they needed a dress by friday night and tell her on Thursday night. Grandmother never worked until all the kids were grown and then got a little part time job at a clothing store just for something to do. One of Cathy's favorite memories about her mother was at Christmas time... everyone would be done opening the packages and Grandmother would ask, for instance, Cathy did you open up a blue sweater? And Cathy would say no... and so Grandmother would go into the other room and bring back a blue sweater! Every Christmas she always forgot to wrap something.

Cathy said now she realizes all the sacrifices that both her parents did to make their life's as happy as possible.

Nellie Thomas

Maudie Casey, Jerry Horton,
Nellie Thomas and Dorothy Bunton
(all Hortons)

Hey guys. so this is probably my first real post about my family.

Starting with my grandmother on my mothers side.

Nellie Fay Thomas, maiden name is Horton, was born on February 20, 1928 to Grover and Lilly Horton. I learned that her dad, my great grandpa, was married to another woman and had two child I do believe. She talked about her growing up while I was recording her for my video that will be up soon... she said that she loved to dance when she was growing up. Her and her siblings would sneak out of the house and go to a dance hall... with no alcohol, but she pronounced it (al-key-hall) lol... she is so country.

Nellie Thomas @ 21

She said she liked to swim and they would "go down to the river" and have a good time... she also calls a pond a pool... not like a pool we have in our back yards these days but thats what they called them back then.

Her father was a good man she said, not hard on the punishment but was firm and did have to disipline her and her siblings every now and then. Her mom was a quite woman and "wasn't a tease or anything like that"... I didn't even know my grandma knew what that meant. LOL

Initial Post

Parents: Mark Brooks & DeLana Hood, Step-Mom - Cathy Brooks
Grandpartents: Wheat & Jean Brooks, Nellie Thomas, Step-Grandparents - Jack & Joe Shipley
Siblings : Brad Brooks
Step Siblings: Sarah Gonzales & David King

First Post

Mark Brooks and DeLana Hood -------> Jordan Brooks