Archie S. Brooks

Archie S. Brooks, 90, of Woolford passed away on Tuesday, December 25, 2012 at his home. He was born in Madison on March 19, 1922 and was a son of the late Claude Rupert Brooks and Rubye Saunders Brooks.

He graduated from Cambridge High School in 1938 and went to work for E.M. Skinner Jr. Company wholesale grocery as a salesman in Cambridge. In May of 1942 he left Skinner and went to work at Western Electric in Baltimore and then Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore as a rigger. On October of 1942 he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard. He went to boot camp at Manhattan Beach, NY and then entered Quartermaster School in Manhattan Beach. On May 27, 1943, he boarded a LST at Jefferson, Indiana as a 3rd Class Quartermaster. He served in the invasion in the South Pacific on the New Guinea and New Britain Coast. On January of 1944 he was transferred back to the United States to go to Officers Training School, but instead was assigned to the Ice Breaker Eastwind in San Diego, CA and served in the North Atlantic Greenland Patrol. The Eastwind captured a German Trawler. It was the first foreign vessel the United States had captured since the War of 1812. On March 30, 1946, he received an honorable discharge from the United States Coast Guard as Chief Quartermaster. He then returned to work for E.M. Skinner Jr. Company as a salesman until he started his own business in 1948. He operated as A.S. Brooks & Company for 50 years until he retired in 1998. In 1947 he married the former Golda Marshall, who passed away in 1997. In 1999, he married the former Mildred Vane. Archie loved fishing and boating. He had a boat built for him in 1955, which he named the C& R after his mother and father. In 1965, the boat sank to the bottom crossing the bay in 38ft. of water, but he was able to get the boat up and the C&R was rebuilt. He operated the boat as a Commercial Fishing Party boat for 30 years. Archie bought the First State Commercial Fishing Guide License the State of Maryland sold in 1975 (No. 001). He was a life member of the American Legion Post #91, the Cambridge Lodge #1272 B.P.O.E. Elks, Choptank Memorial Post #7460 VFW, the Charter Boat Association and the Cambridge Moose Lodge #1211. He was also a member of the Cambridge Yacht Club, AARP, the United States Eastwind Association and a member of the South Dorchester Folk Museum. He is survived by his wife Mildred Brooks, two daughters Sylvia Satterfield and husband Allen, Darlene Jones and husband Bobby, two stepsons Bill Vane and wife Audrey and Charles Vane and wife Paula, four grandchildren Don Satterfield, David Satterfield. Robin McDuffie and Julie James, and several great grandchildren, a sister Nicie Mesmeringer and several nieces and nephews. Besides his parents and his first wife, Mr. Brooks is preceded in death by two sons Richard Marshall and Lenny Spicer, a sister Carole Armiger, three brothers William Brooks, Claude Rupert Brooks and Reginald "Tuffy" Brooks.

Pallbearers will be Paul Mesmeringer, Tommy Brooks, Don Satterfield, David Satterfield, Ted Brooks and Bill Sharpe. Honorary pallbearers will be Paul Brooks, Otis Faulkner, Jr. Tolley, Ray Harrison and Sewell Hubbard.

A funeral service will be held on Monday, December 31, 2012 at 2 p.m. at Thomas Funeral Home, P.A. in Cambridge with Rev. A. Delmer Willey, Jr. officiating. Interment will follow at Old Trinity Churchyard with military honors. Family will receive friends one hour prior to the service. Memorial contributions can be made in Archie's name to the Church Creek Volunteer Fire Company, P. O. Box 16, Church Creek, MD 21622 or to Milton United Methodist Church, c/o Charles Block, P.O. Box 106, Woolford, MD 21677.