David Graham Crooks

David Graham Crooks

Tucson, Arizona

October 20, 1929 - August 12, 2023

Supported by Hospice care, our father, brother, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Dave Crooks died Friday, August 12, 2023. David Graham Crooks was born in Paterson, NJ, on October 20, 1929, the son of Archer Duryee Crooks (1900-1959) and Rebecca Pearse Easterbrook Crooks, 1904-1937. Dave had one brother, James Benedict, and two sisters Helen Elizabeth Crooks Wilkin and Marian Louise Crooks Downie. Dave grew up in Glen Rock, NJ, graduated from Ridgewood, NJ High School and subsequently Rutgers University (1951) where he was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity and wrote for Targum, the university newspaper. After graduation, he served in the US Army Signal Corps, from 1951-1953. Upon discharge, Dave worked for Nabisco Corporation in York, PA, where he met his first wife, Ola Ruby (1921-2002). Together they had three children: Stephen Archer (1956), Suzanne Easterbrook (1958), and Christopher Scott (1960). The family moved to Newark, DE (1960) where Dave worked for Thiokol Corporation as a technical writer for the rest of his career, retiring in 1994 . Dave subsequently met and married Ruby Matejovsky (1924-1996) and following her death, Joan Lane (1935-2015). With Joan, Dave moved to Prescott, AZ, and after she died, to Tucson to be near his son, Chris, wife Betty, and granddaughter, Lizzie. He lived with them the last few years prior to his death. It was during his marriage to Ruby that Dave joins Alcoholics Anonymous which became the spiritual center of his life. Through AA, he tutored fellow members in prison and helped others in numerous ways. His life with AA was very rewarding. Dave was an extraordinarily generous person to his children, grandchildren, Elizabeth Graham Crooks, Joel Francis Crooks-DeForest, Maria DeForest, and Melanie Suzanne DeForest Melbaum, and great grandchildren. One remembers Dave for his generosity to family and others, his exuberance for life, his intelligence, and his persistence in overcoming difficult challenges over the years. His extended family and friends will miss him.