Alan Philip Brooks

1952 - 2018

Alan was born in Bakersfield, CA, on June 26, 1952, and died on November 5, 2018, in Sacramento, CA, from lung cancer. He was the fifth of six children of Tennant and Louise Brooks. Alan felt he was extremely fortunate to have been born into a large and loving family. He was preceded in death by both his parents and two older brothers, Tennant Jr. and John. Alan grew up primarily in Bakersfield. After attending Bakersfield College, he enlisted in the Coast Guard and spent his time working on a buoy tender, on a housing project in San Juan, PR, and investigating oil spills in and around New Orleans. Alan said he had a "uneven work history," which included delivering building supplies, assembling wood burning stoves, working as a gold miner, watering a golf course, working for an airline, working for the Census Bureau, answering tax questions for the IRS, working for a photo finishing company, substitute teaching, and for ten years monitoring parts of Sacramento County's mainframe computer system. For some reason he took unusual delight in making a napkin last for more than a week. He was perhaps a little too proud of his extensive collection of albums by The Ventures. He was especially appreciative of having had five or six mini-retirements during the course of his life. Some of the things that gave him his greatest pleasure were traveling, camping, reading, dabbling in photography, following Cal football and rugby, listening to music, partaking of the herb, and spending time with his family. Alan was a voracious reader, favoring mysteries and thrillers by Tony Hillerman, Lawrence Block, John D. McDonald, John Sanford, Robert Crais, and many others. For the last five years, Alan's daily moment of Zen was smoking a Churchill cigar as he sat by the swimming pool reading one of his favorite authors and following their stories wherever it took him. Alan is survived by sister, Shelley Brooks Mintier (Larry Mintier) of Sacramento and their daughters, Sophie Mintier (Ouma Onguka), Gillian Mintier Tiede (Loren Tiede); and grandnephew, Anders and grandniece, Elsa; brother, David Brooks of Paradise, CA; and his stepchildren, Rosa Greenhalgh (Brad), Emily Anderson, and Woody Anderson; sister, Nancy Brooks Wilcox of Sacramento and her sons, Jordan Wilcox (Amber Moore) (and their daughters, Juliette and Bridget) and Tyler Wilcox; and sister-in-law, Delores Brooks of Bakersfield, CA, and her children, Alyssa Brooks, John Brooks (Melissa), and Willow Moore.