Birgit "Biggi" Brookes

1961 - 2015

Birgit "Biggi" Brookes, 54
YARMOUTH - Birgit "Biggi" Brookes, passed from this life the morning of Oct. 11, 2015, at the age of 54. She had bravely and with great determination and lust for life fought breast cancer since her diagnosis in March of 2014. Always a very active and strong person, Biggi was determined and resolute; just two weeks prior to her death, she was willing and expected to enter another phase of treatment and to keep going forward, to regain her strength and ability to make the most of each day.
Biggi had an enormous capacity for life, manifested in her dedication and hard work in her family day care, which she managed mostly on her own for over 20 years; her "heart and soul" involvement with tennis (being on multiple USTA competitive teams, playing 3-5 times per week and working part-time at the Foreside Fitness & Tennis club in Falmouth); and her limitless love for her family and many, many friends.
Born Birgit Kupfermann on June 16, 1961, in the then Russian sector of Berlin, Germany, the year the Berlin Wall was erected, Biggi was raised in her early years in East Berlin. She was an avid and excellent swimmer, catching the attention of coaches who groomed the communist country's best swimmers. Her parents divorced when she was young and she and her mother were able to get to West Berlin when she was 12. Shortly thereafter, she was allowed to return to her father in East Berlin, where she spent her teenage years in a blended family, with whom she remained close. In 1983, after having gained transit again from East to West Berlin in the previous year, she came to Maine to spend the summer with family friends who had set up a German restaurant in Falmouth.
Trained in Berlin (East and West) as a Gard manger chef, she helped in the restaurant kitchen and lived in Portland with her German friends. A connection with the restaurant owners and some area residents who were studying German led to meeting her soon-to-be husband, Jamieson (Jamie) Brookes. They married that summer and thereafter began a series of moves around the country. While in Westchester County, N.Y., they started a family, having two daughters, Ashley and Kerry. It was there that Biggi began working in childcare and took classes in Early Childhood Education. She worked in a friend's in-home childcare until the family moved back to Yarmouth, where Biggi started her own in-home childcare, which she operated as a Maine-licensed facility that was recognized by the State for quality and adherence to established pre-school oriented guidelines.
Biggi was in the care of Dr. Chiara Battelli and her staff at New England Cancer Specialists in Scarborough. She and her family were always very appreciative of the wonderful care she received there and at Maine Medical Center. During her final days at home, she was in the care of Hospice of Southern Maine. The family is relieved that she did not suffer long the last and worst of her disease.
She is survived by her husband and daughters; her mother and half-sister and other extended family in Berlin, Germany; as well as many Brookes family members in Maine and elsewhere.
A celebration of her life will take place on Saturday, Nov. 7, at the Foreside Fitness & Tennis, Rt. 1, Falmouth, from 2:30-5:00 p.m. Attire is casual.