May 3, 1926 – February 18, 2023
Juanita Kathryn Watson Brooks, whose passion for her family and whose steadfast commitment to Bay Area education shaped a generation of Peninsula students of color, died on Saturday, February 18th in Redwood City, California. She was 96 years old. An ardent wife, a beloved mother, a dazzling Brooks family matriarch, a committed teacher, and an elegant and dynamic Peninsula community member for over half a century, she peacefully succumbed to illness surrounded by her children and their spouses as well as grand and great- grandchildren at Redwood City’s Sunrise Senior Living facility.
Juanita was born on May 3, 1926 in Texarkana, Texas to Arthur Watson, a pipe factory worker, and Gertrude Graham Watson, a homemaker. She earned a B.S. in Business Administration from Prairie View A&M University and then embarked on a career in education that would stretch across the next forty years. In 1948, she met her future spouse, Nathaniel Hawthorne Brooks. The two married on June 21, 1950 and made the epic move to the San Francisco Bay Area soon after. A Peninsula resident since 1966, Juanita led a vibrant social life which continued on after the passing of Nathaniel in 2003. She taught in the Ravenswood City School District for 19 years before retiring in 1989. She remained a devout member of St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church in East Palo Alto for nearly thirty years and served as the longtime secretary of the Senior Club at the Onetta Harris Community Center in Menlo Park.
Juanita is survived by her son Nathaniel Brooks, Jr. and his wife Sally; her daughter, S.F. Giants public address announcer, Renel Brooks-Moon and her husband Tommie L. Moon; her daughter Dr. Daphne A. Brooks and husband, Dr. Matthew Frye Jacobson, both of whom serve on the faculty at Yale University; five grandchildren, Nadya, Nathaniel Hawthorne III and wife Stephanie, Melissa, Anthony, and Megan; five great-grandchildren, Michael, Nalaya, Sydney, Jacoby and Greyson; and a niece, LeNelle Woods Thompson and her spouse, Ludwig Thompson of Pine Bluff, Arkansas.