Margaret Brooks

Margaret Waters Brooks was born on May 14, 1938, in New York City. Her father, the late Leslie W. Waters, was an engineer in the Army Corps of Engineers, who worked on WPA public works projects during the Great Depression, and then for the City of New York during construction of the aqueducts carrying water into New York City. Her mother was Violet Caddell Waters. Margaret spent her high school years in Roscoe, New York. Margaret attended Radcliffe College, graduating in 1959. She met Peter Brooks at Harvard College. They married in 1959, and during their 34 years of marriage, raised three children. Margaret pursued life with a passion. She was a French teacher for many years, 18 of them at The Foote School in New Haven. Margaret then ran a successful real estate brokerage company, Audubon Associates. In addition, she tutored secondary school children at top schools in New York. Margaret excelled at playing the piano and the flute. She supported the Neighborhood Music School, and particularly its Bach’s Lunch Program. Margaret was also a contributor to the Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, reading books for others to hear. In addition, Margaret loved New Haven and promoted many civic programs that contributed to the revitalization of the city. She was also actively involved in the Yale University community, and was a Fellow at Ezra Stiles College. Margaret was an avid student of literature and the arts. She lived many years in France, spoke French fluently, and visited her lifelong friends there frequently. Recently, Margaret voyaged to the Antarctic and India, and wrote passionately about her experiences there. Margaret died peacefully at her home in New Haven of natural causes on November 7, 2010. She is survived by her children, Preston Brooks and his wife, Seeley, of Los Angeles, California, Catherine Laing and her husband, Charlie, of Red Hook, New York, and Nathaniel Brooks and his wife, Jessica, of Chatham, New York; grandchildren Sophie, Nicholas, Sam, Phoebe, Charlie and Oliver, who all love and miss her greatly. The memorial service will be held on November 27, 2010 at 2 p.m. at the Neighborhood Music School, 100 Audubon Street in New Haven. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Margaret W. Brooks Scholarship Fund at the Neighborhood Music School at www.neighborhoodmusicschoool.org, or to The Foote School in memory of Madame Brooks at www.footeschool.org.