Private services set for former city manager

Tom Brooks served Port Aransas from 1992 to 2003



TOM BROOKS

TOM BROOKS

The longest term and one of the most respected of city managers in Port Aransas, Tomme Melvin “Tom” Brooks, died Sunday, April 3, 2011, at his home in Goldthwaite after a long battle with COPD. He was 72.

Brooks was city manager here from 1992 until 2003 when he and his wife, Barbara, retired to Goldthwaite for his health and so the couple could pursue their passion for six-man football.

Mayors, other city and state officials and city staffers who served during Brooks’ tenure recalled his contributions to Port Aransas.

“ During my tenure on the Regional Transportation Authority Board, I worked closely with Mr. Brooks, and think he set the bar for all city managers of Port Aransas. Tom was knowledgeable, kind, and cared about our city. He exhibited this in both his professional and private lives. He and his wife, Barbara, were wonderful assets to the City of Port Aransas,” said Georgia Neblett.

Neblett later served as mayor and is now director of development for The University of Texas Marine Science Institute.

Long-time city secretary Esther Arzola said Brooks “was a very fair person.”

“He really got the job done – whatever the council wanted. However, if it was not a budgeted item, he would let them know. He wanted them to be aware of what their options were. That helped everybody,” Arzola said.

Brooks was a “hands on” manager, according to Arzola.

“He’d go out and really look at the beach. He didn’t stay in the office all day,” she said.

Arzola also recalled that Brooks was “very good with the staff. He had coffee with the crew — the public works — every morning.”

“If someone was in the hospital, he’d be the first one there. He was that way with his wife. He believed that family came first. If there was someone ill, he was very compassionate as far as their absence from work,” Arzola said.

Glenn Martin, who served as mayor during Brooks’ tenure, said, “Tom was a great, great asset to the city. He was a great resource for me as mayor in every facet: legislation, city government, rules and regulations — everything. It made my job a whole lot easier because I had the confidence that city staff and everyone involved was doing the job right because Tom was watching over them.”

“ He was well-known throughout the state in all facets of government, and he will be missed immensely,” Martin said.

Jim Sherrill was the second mayor Brooks served under (the first was the late J.C. Barr).

“We had a real good relationship. He did a fantastic job for Port Aransas,” Sherrill said.

“He was the best we ever had, and he was a great guy. We worked very closely together,” he added.

State Rep. Todd Hunter, D-Corpus Christi, said, “Tom was a great friend and resource. He always protected Port Aransas.”

Brooks had something to say as well. In an e-mail sent for this purpose a year before his death, on March 11, 2010, Brooks wrote, “I thank the people of Port Aransas for having given me the opportunity to serve as their city manager for some 11 years plus a few months. With the exception of my 21 years in the United States Air Force, the Port Aransas years were the most enjoyable of my life. I’m still sort of old-fashioned, and with my last living breath my thoughts are of my God, my country and my family.”

Among projects in which Brooks played a role during his tenure as city manager here were the Nature Preserve at Charlie’s Pasture, starting with the acquisition of 1100 acres in Charlie’s Pasture; construction of the Bill Ellis Memorial Library and of the public safety building; transformation of what had been the county law enforcement building (which had housed the constable’s of- fice) into a teen center, then computer center; development of Roberts Point Park (matching funds from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department applied for by the Port Aransas Action Force, a volunteer group) as well as the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding and Joan and Scott Holt Paradise Pond birding centers; development of the Port Aransas Community Park, which involved approval by voters of a half-cent sales tax which required special legislation; leader in the Coastal Management Plan, much of which is the result of Port Aransas involvement; purchase of the gas company; procurement of a grant that paid for refurbishing the airport runway and installation of automated weather observation system that provided weather of area for flyers in any location in world (plans were under way at the time of his retirement for a fueling system that has since been installed); addition of RTA trolley service; designated $700,000 to $800,000 a year for new streets and major street repaving; and applied for and received a $2 million grant from the Coastal Erosion Protection Response Act.

Brooks earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University) in San Marcos by working as a barber in Marion.

He joined the U.S. Air Force in 1956 and retired in 1976. He was stationed in Osaka Japan, at Dyess Air Force Base, Offutt AFBs in Texas and Nebraska, March AFB in California, Andersen AFB in Guam, Fairchild AFB in Washington and Randolph AFB in San Antonio.

During his service he earned the Meritorious Service Award, Commendation Medal, and was named the Air Force Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year in 1975 for Randolph AFB.

Brooks was born June 28, 1938, in Los Fresnos. He was preceded in death by his parents, Samuel Fount and Evelyn Ophelia Brooks.

Survivors in addition to his wife, Barbara, are his children, Cindi (K.W.) Thomas of Georgia, Marshal (Judy) Brooks of Illinois, Rob Brooks of Texas, Tommy (Myra) Brooks of Australia, grandchildren Jennifer (Gabe) Thomason, Trey (Valerie) Thomas, Bethny (Chris) Como, Marshal Brooks, Aaron Brooks, Ariana Brooks and Isabella Brooks; one great granddaughter, Morgan Marie Thomason; and siblings, Sam (Frances) Brooks of Abilene, Gladys (Arnold) Pettijohn of Clyde, Gerald (Gloria) Brooks of Corpus Christi and Ethlyn Sanders of Houston as well as many nieces and nephews.

A private family graveside ceremony will be held Friday afternoon, April 8, at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen.

In lieu of flowers or plants, the family requests memorials be made to Solaris Hospice, 1006 Sixth St., Goldthwaite, TX 76844, or a favorite charity.

Comments? Questions? Contact Mary Judson at (361) 749- 5131 or southjetty@centurytel.net.


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