Jean W. Brooks, a homemaker and volunteer, died Monday at the Brightwood retirement community in Lutherville of complications from dementia. She was 84.
The daughter of Edward Barhyte Wright, an executive with the A.H. Bull Line Steamship Co., and Dorothy Bull Wright, a homemaker, Jean Bull Wright was born in Baltimore and raised on Circle Road in Ruxton.
She was a graduate of Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Conn., and in 1950 graduated from the old Briarcliff Junior College in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.
Mrs. Brooks worked as a preschool teacher for a year before her marriage in 1955 to William "Gill" Brooks, a banker who later became a private school business manager. He died in 2005.
The couple lived for 45 years on Army Road in Ruxton. Mrs. Brooks moved to Brightwood in 2006.
A volunteer for many organizations, Mrs. Brooks was particularly interested in working with the Johns Hopkins Women's Board.
Mrs. Brooks was called "Gagie" by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, family members said. Also, she and her husband referred to each other affectionately as "Pud."
She enjoyed spending summers in Cape May, N.J.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, Boyce and Carrollton avenues, Ruxton.
Mrs. Brooks is survived by her son, William "Gill" Brooks Jr. of Maui; four daughters, Dorrie B. Laufman of Annapolis, Roddy B. Cole, Chance B. Allen, and Tracey B. Clarkson, all of Portsmouth, N.H.; 12 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.