William H Brooks

William H. Brooks of Mashpee, MA passed away peacefully on Saturday, April 12th at the age of ninety-four after a brief illness. Bill was a loving father, grandfather and great grandfather as well as a successful insurance executive, Air Force veteran, and tireless volunteer in the communities his family called home.

He is survived by eldest daughter Susan B. Drinker, daughter Debra B. Mango and son William M. Brooks. Bill’s wife of 52 years Barbara-Jane Brooks died in 2014. They had eight grandchildren and ten great grandchildren … Jonathan Drinker and daughter Mira, Amanda Drinker and her sons Jack and Nolan, Ashley Trubiano with sons Preston, Keegan and Julian, grandson Dominick Mango, Chris Mango with daughters Emery, Audrey and Sadie, grandson William C. Brooks, Andrew Brooks and his son Mason and Timothy Brooks, who sadly predeceased Bill along with daughter-in-law Robin Brooks and son-in-law Dominick Mango

. Bill survived his three brothers Richard Brooks, Robert Brooks and David Brooks. His parents, William Brooks and Helen Hare Brooks, raised their four boys in Braintree, MA.  As a youth Bill was a star athlete, excelling in football, basketball, track and baseball, eventually getting elected to the Braintree High School Hall of Fame which made him very proud. One of his favorite football memories as a senior was returning a punt 55 yards for what was his second touchdown of the day that beat rival Attleboro. He was also very enterprising growing up, developing a successful milk and dairy house-to-house delivery route on Cape Cod where his family lived in the summer. He was even responsible for a cow named Lassie at his grandparents’ farm in nearby Sharon, Massachusetts.

The Cape was woven into his life where he resided in summers not only in his youth but as a father, grandfather and retiree. Nothing pleased him more than digging for clams and then steaming them up for delicious eating. In fact he met the love of his life Bobby-Jane Mills (eventually Brooks) on a baseball field in Megansett where today a granite bench bearing their names commemorates the occasion.

After a year of post-graduate work at Tilton Academy, Bill attended Tufts University (Go Jumbos!) and continued his athletic prowess in track and field, graduating in 1954. He then served in the US Air Force, honorably discharged as a First Lieutenant.

Bill’s professional career was exclusively in commercial insurance, beginning with Rhode Island Mutual Insurance in 1956, then Norfolk and Dedham Mutual Fire Insurance and ending with a long and successful stint at the Vermont Mutual Insurance Company. He started as a field agent in 1964 and was instrumental in making Massachusetts into a profitable state for the company within five years. He rose through the ranks and retired as president of VM in 1995 followed by being elected as chairman of the board of directors. As president Bill helped grow VM into one of the largest insurance agencies of its kind. Among his bold strokes was ending VM’s insurance coverage in high risk storm areas like Florida which as he tells it was not necessarily well received, even in his own company. It turned out to be a wise decision.

In retirement Bill and Bobby-Jane lived in Vero Beach, FL and West Falmouth, MA and eventually Mashpee. Although he stopped “clamming” Bill continued playing golf and watching professional sports, especially his beloved Red Sox. Few things were cherished more by Bill than the Sox and luckily they finally won a World Series title in 2004 after 86 years of futility (plus three more in his lifetime). He particularly admired Sox slugger and Hall-of-Famer Ted Williams who he affectionately called Teddy Ballgame.

His civic contributions were numerous as a board member or an active participant in organizations such as PTOs, Little League, Girl Scouts, United Way, the local Episcopal church, Mt. Sinai Shrine, the NH/VT Shriners interstate football game, Vermont Insurance Guaranty Association and many others.

Whether it was a local charity or a professional association, Bill was dedicated toward improving the welfare of others. Always with a cheerful disposition and a smile, Bill lit up a room with his personality, be it in a board room, on a Woods Hole golf course or at a favorite restaurant like Cannon’s in Vero Beach. His legacy will be caried forward by those family members, friends and colleagues touched by his infectious optimism and genuine caring. He will be missed but never forgotten. We love you dad, Bill or Grampy.

There will be a funeral service and remembrance at Peck Funeral Home at 516 Washington Street in Braintree, MA  Friday, April 18 at eleven o’clock.

In lieu of flowers please send a donation to either Shriner’s Children’s Boston or the VN Hospice House in Vero Beach. Thank you.

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