Ellen Lewis Brooks

CLOSTER, N.J. — Ellen Lewis Brooks, 98, widow of James Williams Brooks, died Tuesday, March 24, 2009, at her home in Closter, where she has resided since her marriage in 1950.

Mrs. Brooks was the daughter of Elizabeth Uzelle Wardwell Lewis, originally of Bristol, R.I., and John Taylor Lewis of Cedar Grove Plantation in Clarksville, Mecklenburg County, Va.

Mrs. Brooks attended Chatham Hall in Chatham, Va. and The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. For more than 30 years she was on the board of trustees of the Englewood Hospital. She belonged to the National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York for many, many years, also to the Knickerbocker Country Club and to the Garden Club of Englewood, N.J.

She very much enjoyed spending her summers at her home in Kennebunkport, Maine, where she was a parishioner at the Episcopal Church, St. Ann's by the Sea. In addition, she was a member of the Kennebunk River Club and the Arundel Beach Club.

She was the last surviving child of her family, which included John Taylor Lewis Jr., a half-brother from Mr. Lewis' first marriage to Louise Williams Lewis, who predeceased her husband. In 1895, Mr. Lewis married Miss Wardwell and they had seven children: William Wardwell Lewis, Elizabeth Frances Lewis Smith-Gray, the deceased Ellen Lewis Brooks, Louise Lewis Wilkins, Meriwether Fielding Lewis, Wilbur Marsh Lewis and Lawrence Gladding Lewis.

She is survived by 13 nieces and nephews and 38 great nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held during the summer in Kennebunkport. It was Mrs. Brooks' wish that, in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the Englewood Hospital Foundation, 350 Engle St., Englewood, NJ 07631.