l Catherine Elizabeth Brooks, a retired city school principal, died of heart failure Thursday at Mercy Medical Center. The Wilson Park resident was 94.

Before her retirement about 30 years ago, she was principal of Lombard Junior High in Southeast Baltimore. Earlier, she had been a counselor at Dunbar High School and taught at the former Clifton Park Junior High.

Born Catherine Elizabeth Woodland in Baltimore, she was raised on Myrtle Avenue. After her 1926 graduation from Douglass High School, she earned a degree in education from what is now Morgan State University. She taught in a one-room Baltimore County school before receiving a master's degree from Columbia University.

During World War II, she was a secretary in the War Department in Washington.

Mrs. Brooks traveled widely and played contract bridge.

Her husband of 35 years, Robert F. Brooks, died in 1999.

A Mass of Christian burial was offered yesterday at Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church, where she was a member.

Survivors include two nephews and three nieces.