E. Whitson Brooks
COLUMBIA - E. Whitson Brooks died Thursday, October 25, 2007, at the age of 92. Born in Ashland, Ala. and a South Carolinian by choice, Whitson Brooks came to Columbia in 1949 to work in the insurance business with a maternal uncle. Whitson used his statewide experience and his organizational skills when he became director of the South Carolina Farm Bureau, a federation he led for many years during a period of phenomenal growth and influence. Later Brooks was appointed State Director of the Farmers Home Administration, a position he held until 1976. A strong believer in two party government, he was an early participant in South Carolina's emerging Republican Party.
He was one of the state's leaders on agricultural issues, lobbying in the State House for legislation helpful to famers and always able to explain these issues to skeptics. He served on many state committees including the State Water Resources Board, South Carolina Recreation and Tourism Conference, and on the Federal Highways Users Conference. Brooks was instrumental in the development of rural water systems and could expound at length on the necessity for rural South Carolina to have water as a key to the health of the rural economy. He was nationally recognized for bringing much needed housing to rural districts through F.H.A. loans. He often pointed with pride to the nice brick homes that Farmers Home made possible throughout the state.
During his career with both the Farm Bureau and the Farmers Home Administration his advice was sought and valued by senators, governors and local government officials who found Whitson to have wise and practical views on the problems and potential of the state and region.
Whitson retired to his home at Edisto Beach in 1977. There he successfully ran for mayor on a progressive platform and went on to serve two terms. Edisto Beach benefited from his strong leadership, managerial experience and understanding of public policies so that during his tenure, the community built a town hall, passed zoning reform, revamped fire and police departments and installed water and sewer systems. He led the town to unprecedented growth and development. Upon his second retirement, he left politics and government to become a writer and exercised his skills as an historical observer. He wrote a History of the Town of Edisto Beach and two memoirs of his boyhood in the dust bowl period of Oklahoma. He was working on his first attempt at fiction at the time of his death.
Whitson Brooks was one of the founding members of Kathwood Baptist Church. He served in many leadership roles in the church and until August was teaching the Fellowship class. Always a faithful Christian gentleman, he had a friendly greeting and a little joke for everyone he met. His hobbies were gardening, storytelling and writing.
During his retirement at the beach, he and Mildred were able to host a steady stream of children and grandchildren providing lively hospitality to all. His stories and recollections are memorialized in family oral history.
Surviving are his wife and companion of 69 years, Mildred Redus Brooks; son and daughter-in-law, Randall E. and Jo-Ann Antonette Brooks of Columbia; daughter and son-in-law, Jean Richardson and Larry Lucas of Oklahoma City, Okla.; brother, Wesley Brooksof Kansas City, Mo.; sisters, Gay Boyett of Albuquerque, N.M. and Marie Brooks of Oklahoma City; grandchildren, Dr. Andrea Lynn Richardson of Boston, Mass., Karen Kathleen Richardson of Alexandria, Va., Brooks Allen Richardson of Oklahoma City and Randall Ellis Brooks, Jr. of Columbia; and great-grandchildren, Austin, Hannah, Claire and Cate. He was predeceased by his parents, Lee Wesley Brooks and Velma Darby Brooksand brother, Quinten Brooks.
Funeral service will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at Kathwood Baptist Church with burial in Greenlawn Memorial Park. Serving as active pallbearers will be Fielding L. Foreman, Randall Ellis Brooks, Jr., Brooks Allen Richardson, Matthew K. Lucas, Edward L. Blue and Robert J. Bell.
Serving as honorary pallbearers will be William Ray Flemming, Glenn S. Hedgecock and Dr. Frank Hines, Jr.
The family will receive friends Saturday 3-5 p.m. at 1521 Wyndham Road.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Kathwood Baptist Church, 4900 Trenholm Rd., Columbia, SC 29206 or to Edisto Beach Baptist Church, 414 Jungle Road, Edisto Island, SC 29438.
Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family.
COLUMBIA - E. Whitson Brooks died Thursday, October 25, 2007, at the age of 92. Born in Ashland, Ala. and a South Carolinian by choice, Whitson Brooks came to Columbia in 1949 to work in the insurance business with a maternal uncle. Whitson used his statewide experience and his organizational skills when he became director of the South Carolina Farm Bureau, a federation he led for many years during a period of phenomenal growth and influence. Later Brooks was appointed State Director of the Farmers Home Administration, a position he held until 1976. A strong believer in two party government, he was an early participant in South Carolina's emerging Republican Party.
He was one of the state's leaders on agricultural issues, lobbying in the State House for legislation helpful to famers and always able to explain these issues to skeptics. He served on many state committees including the State Water Resources Board, South Carolina Recreation and Tourism Conference, and on the Federal Highways Users Conference. Brooks was instrumental in the development of rural water systems and could expound at length on the necessity for rural South Carolina to have water as a key to the health of the rural economy. He was nationally recognized for bringing much needed housing to rural districts through F.H.A. loans. He often pointed with pride to the nice brick homes that Farmers Home made possible throughout the state.
During his career with both the Farm Bureau and the Farmers Home Administration his advice was sought and valued by senators, governors and local government officials who found Whitson to have wise and practical views on the problems and potential of the state and region.
Whitson retired to his home at Edisto Beach in 1977. There he successfully ran for mayor on a progressive platform and went on to serve two terms. Edisto Beach benefited from his strong leadership, managerial experience and understanding of public policies so that during his tenure, the community built a town hall, passed zoning reform, revamped fire and police departments and installed water and sewer systems. He led the town to unprecedented growth and development. Upon his second retirement, he left politics and government to become a writer and exercised his skills as an historical observer. He wrote a History of the Town of Edisto Beach and two memoirs of his boyhood in the dust bowl period of Oklahoma. He was working on his first attempt at fiction at the time of his death.
Whitson Brooks was one of the founding members of Kathwood Baptist Church. He served in many leadership roles in the church and until August was teaching the Fellowship class. Always a faithful Christian gentleman, he had a friendly greeting and a little joke for everyone he met. His hobbies were gardening, storytelling and writing.
During his retirement at the beach, he and Mildred were able to host a steady stream of children and grandchildren providing lively hospitality to all. His stories and recollections are memorialized in family oral history.
Surviving are his wife and companion of 69 years, Mildred Redus Brooks; son and daughter-in-law, Randall E. and Jo-Ann Antonette Brooks of Columbia; daughter and son-in-law, Jean Richardson and Larry Lucas of Oklahoma City, Okla.; brother, Wesley Brooksof Kansas City, Mo.; sisters, Gay Boyett of Albuquerque, N.M. and Marie Brooks of Oklahoma City; grandchildren, Dr. Andrea Lynn Richardson of Boston, Mass., Karen Kathleen Richardson of Alexandria, Va., Brooks Allen Richardson of Oklahoma City and Randall Ellis Brooks, Jr. of Columbia; and great-grandchildren, Austin, Hannah, Claire and Cate. He was predeceased by his parents, Lee Wesley Brooks and Velma Darby Brooksand brother, Quinten Brooks.
Funeral service will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at Kathwood Baptist Church with burial in Greenlawn Memorial Park. Serving as active pallbearers will be Fielding L. Foreman, Randall Ellis Brooks, Jr., Brooks Allen Richardson, Matthew K. Lucas, Edward L. Blue and Robert J. Bell.
Serving as honorary pallbearers will be William Ray Flemming, Glenn S. Hedgecock and Dr. Frank Hines, Jr.
The family will receive friends Saturday 3-5 p.m. at 1521 Wyndham Road.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Kathwood Baptist Church, 4900 Trenholm Rd., Columbia, SC 29206 or to Edisto Beach Baptist Church, 414 Jungle Road, Edisto Island, SC 29438.
Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family.
E. Whitson Brooks
COLUMBIA - E. Whitson Brooks died Thursday, October 25, 2007, at the age of 92. Born in Ashland, Ala. and a South Carolinian by choice, Whitson Brooks came to Columbia in 1949 to work in the insurance business with a maternal uncle. Whitson used his statewide experience and his organizational skills when he became director of the South Carolina Farm Bureau, a federation he led for many years during a period of phenomenal growth and influence. Later Brooks was appointed State Director of the Farmers Home Administration, a position he held until 1976. A strong believer in two party government, he was an early participant in South Carolina's emerging Republican Party.
He was one of the state's leaders on agricultural issues, lobbying in the State House for legislation helpful to famers and always able to explain these issues to skeptics. He served on many state committees including the State Water Resources Board, South Carolina Recreation and Tourism Conference, and on the Federal Highways Users Conference. Brooks was instrumental in the development of rural water systems and could expound at length on the necessity for rural South Carolina to have water as a key to the health of the rural economy. He was nationally recognized for bringing much needed housing to rural districts through F.H.A. loans. He often pointed with pride to the nice brick homes that Farmers Home made possible throughout the state.
During his career with both the Farm Bureau and the Farmers Home Administration his advice was sought and valued by senators, governors and local government officials who found Whitson to have wise and practical views on the problems and potential of the state and region.
Whitson retired to his home at Edisto Beach in 1977. There he successfully ran for mayor on a progressive platform and went on to serve two terms. Edisto Beach benefited from his strong leadership, managerial experience and understanding of public policies so that during his tenure, the community built a town hall, passed zoning reform, revamped fire and police departments and installed water and sewer systems. He led the town to unprecedented growth and development. Upon his second retirement, he left politics and government to become a writer and exercised his skills as an historical observer. He wrote a History of the Town of Edisto Beach and two memoirs of his boyhood in the dust bowl period of Oklahoma. He was working on his first attempt at fiction at the time of his death.
Whitson Brooks was one of the founding members of Kathwood Baptist Church. He served in many leadership roles in the church and until August was teaching the Fellowship class. Always a faithful Christian gentleman, he had a friendly greeting and a little joke for everyone he met. His hobbies were gardening, storytelling and writing.
During his retirement at the beach, he and Mildred were able to host a steady stream of children and grandchildren providing lively hospitality to all. His stories and recollections are memorialized in family oral history.
Surviving are his wife and companion of 69 years, Mildred Redus Brooks; son and daughter-in-law, Randall E. and Jo-Ann Antonette Brooks of Columbia; daughter and son-in-law, Jean Richardson and Larry Lucas of Oklahoma City, Okla.; brother, Wesley Brooksof Kansas City, Mo.; sisters, Gay Boyett of Albuquerque, N.M. and Marie Brooks of Oklahoma City; grandchildren, Dr. Andrea Lynn Richardson of Boston, Mass., Karen Kathleen Richardson of Alexandria, Va., Brooks Allen Richardson of Oklahoma City and Randall Ellis Brooks, Jr. of Columbia; and great-grandchildren, Austin, Hannah, Claire and Cate. He was predeceased by his parents, Lee Wesley Brooks and Velma Darby Brooksand brother, Quinten Brooks.
Funeral service will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at Kathwood Baptist Church with burial in Greenlawn Memorial Park. Serving as active pallbearers will be Fielding L. Foreman, Randall Ellis Brooks, Jr., Brooks Allen Richardson, Matthew K. Lucas, Edward L. Blue and Robert J. Bell.
Serving as honorary pallbearers will be William Ray Flemming, Glenn S. Hedgecock and Dr. Frank Hines, Jr.
The family will receive friends Saturday 3-5 p.m. at 1521 Wyndham Road.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Kathwood Baptist Church, 4900 Trenholm Rd., Columbia, SC 29206 or to Edisto Beach Baptist Church, 414 Jungle Road, Edisto Island, SC 29438.
Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family.
COLUMBIA - E. Whitson Brooks died Thursday, October 25, 2007, at the age of 92. Born in Ashland, Ala. and a South Carolinian by choice, Whitson Brooks came to Columbia in 1949 to work in the insurance business with a maternal uncle. Whitson used his statewide experience and his organizational skills when he became director of the South Carolina Farm Bureau, a federation he led for many years during a period of phenomenal growth and influence. Later Brooks was appointed State Director of the Farmers Home Administration, a position he held until 1976. A strong believer in two party government, he was an early participant in South Carolina's emerging Republican Party.
He was one of the state's leaders on agricultural issues, lobbying in the State House for legislation helpful to famers and always able to explain these issues to skeptics. He served on many state committees including the State Water Resources Board, South Carolina Recreation and Tourism Conference, and on the Federal Highways Users Conference. Brooks was instrumental in the development of rural water systems and could expound at length on the necessity for rural South Carolina to have water as a key to the health of the rural economy. He was nationally recognized for bringing much needed housing to rural districts through F.H.A. loans. He often pointed with pride to the nice brick homes that Farmers Home made possible throughout the state.
During his career with both the Farm Bureau and the Farmers Home Administration his advice was sought and valued by senators, governors and local government officials who found Whitson to have wise and practical views on the problems and potential of the state and region.
Whitson retired to his home at Edisto Beach in 1977. There he successfully ran for mayor on a progressive platform and went on to serve two terms. Edisto Beach benefited from his strong leadership, managerial experience and understanding of public policies so that during his tenure, the community built a town hall, passed zoning reform, revamped fire and police departments and installed water and sewer systems. He led the town to unprecedented growth and development. Upon his second retirement, he left politics and government to become a writer and exercised his skills as an historical observer. He wrote a History of the Town of Edisto Beach and two memoirs of his boyhood in the dust bowl period of Oklahoma. He was working on his first attempt at fiction at the time of his death.
Whitson Brooks was one of the founding members of Kathwood Baptist Church. He served in many leadership roles in the church and until August was teaching the Fellowship class. Always a faithful Christian gentleman, he had a friendly greeting and a little joke for everyone he met. His hobbies were gardening, storytelling and writing.
During his retirement at the beach, he and Mildred were able to host a steady stream of children and grandchildren providing lively hospitality to all. His stories and recollections are memorialized in family oral history.
Surviving are his wife and companion of 69 years, Mildred Redus Brooks; son and daughter-in-law, Randall E. and Jo-Ann Antonette Brooks of Columbia; daughter and son-in-law, Jean Richardson and Larry Lucas of Oklahoma City, Okla.; brother, Wesley Brooksof Kansas City, Mo.; sisters, Gay Boyett of Albuquerque, N.M. and Marie Brooks of Oklahoma City; grandchildren, Dr. Andrea Lynn Richardson of Boston, Mass., Karen Kathleen Richardson of Alexandria, Va., Brooks Allen Richardson of Oklahoma City and Randall Ellis Brooks, Jr. of Columbia; and great-grandchildren, Austin, Hannah, Claire and Cate. He was predeceased by his parents, Lee Wesley Brooks and Velma Darby Brooksand brother, Quinten Brooks.
Funeral service will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at Kathwood Baptist Church with burial in Greenlawn Memorial Park. Serving as active pallbearers will be Fielding L. Foreman, Randall Ellis Brooks, Jr., Brooks Allen Richardson, Matthew K. Lucas, Edward L. Blue and Robert J. Bell.
Serving as honorary pallbearers will be William Ray Flemming, Glenn S. Hedgecock and Dr. Frank Hines, Jr.
The family will receive friends Saturday 3-5 p.m. at 1521 Wyndham Road.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Kathwood Baptist Church, 4900 Trenholm Rd., Columbia, SC 29206 or to Edisto Beach Baptist Church, 414 Jungle Road, Edisto Island, SC 29438.
Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family.
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