Pattie Brooks

(The following was read at the Friday. Jan. 18 Memorial Service at White Level Baptist Church, Louisburg, NC.)

Suzy Barile with Jesse and Pattie Brooks

Good evening….I’m Suzy Barile, Pattie’s oldest sibling, though to Jack, Joseph and Jesse, I am simply “Aunt Suzy.” There aren’t many more sweeter words, unless you were Pattie Brooks, and then to her 9 nieces and nephews, and their many friends, she was “Pat-Pat,” and to the children at CrossCreek Charter School, where Jack, Joseph and Jesse go, she is quite simply “Miss Pattie.”

How she loved participating in activities at the school. From working in the library, to collecting boxtops and soda tabs and organizing a Million Dollar Campaign as fundraisers, going on the boys’ field trips, reading in the classrooms, and eating lunch with the children so a teacher could go out for his or her birthday, the school is where she spent much of her time.

That side of Pattie – as an adult with responsibilities – is not how I ever thought of her, for she is simply my baby sister. As the youngest of seven – three girls, including me and Ellie, and four boys – Donnie, Billy, Tommy and Bobby – you can imagine what our household was like when she was brought home from the hospital. Our Mom gave each of us a special song, and Pattie’s began with the words, “Pattie Marie, Pattie Marie, sweetest thing the world can see.”

Because I was 15 years old when she was born, we had little time at home together. I left for college when she was 3 – she promptly moved into my bedroom, leaving the room she shared with our twin brothers, who are just two-and-a-half- years older. I was, however, allowed to sleep in “her” room when I’d come home to visit!

Not until Pattie and I were adults did we really get to know one another and become friends. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have some great “remember when” stories to share, so let me tell you a bit about her early years.

Pattie was born at the end of a long, hot summer, shortly before our Dad was to head out for sea duty with his Navy ship. Mom wasn’t looking forward to him being gone, but his captain had laid down the law: If the baby isn’t born when it’s time to go, you’re on that ship. A wise doctor suggested Mom drink a concoction of tomato juice and castor oil, and not too many hours later, our precious, pretty Pattie entered the world. We dressed her in pink and doted on this little girl.

But the twins had something else in mind for her, teaching her how to climb out of the playpen long before Mom was ready, and how to roughhouse and stand up for herself. In fact, whatever the boys did, she did, as well, including playing soccer on a boys team!

Life took a dramatic turn for her and our family when our Mom died when Pattie was 22. Gone was the person she was a Daisy scout leader with, the one with whom she had learned and practiced clowning – together they created balloon animals at Pizza Inn on Saturdays and surprised children at birthday parties. Pattie even played the Easter Bunny at the Cary mall!

Gone, also, was the person with whom she was to celebrate her 23rd birthday. Whenever anyone had asked Mom her age, she always replied, “23.” So she and Pattie had big plans. That year, however – 1991, and just three months after Mom died – Pattie chose not to observe her birthday at all. Suddenly she had to face the world as an adult, and face it, she did.

After earning her cosmetology license, she polished thousands of fingernails and toenails, and pierced many a little girls ears for the first time. Those little girls often accompanied their mothers to a nail appointment, for they knew “Miss Pattie” would polish theirs, as well.

During this new time of her life, she also doted on her nieces and nephews. She took my daughter Jen to her first rock concert; she had sleepovers with nephew Joey and niece Sydney; and when the twins, Annie and Bryson, were born, she and Jeff kept them so often that Annie once told friends she was at boarding school!

Pattie delighted in these children, and life became even more full and fun when brothers and sisters-in-law Chad and Amy and Tommy Angie welcomed Adam, William, Ben and Alex –before and during the years that Jack, Joseph and Jesse were born. I’m sure you can imagine the noise those little boys made when they were together!

Jeff said just this week that Pattie was as much a kid as the kids – and I can assure you that had she been here for last night’s snow, she’d have been on a sled as quick as her boys!

Pattie loved doing for and being with her family, even helping get two brides and attendants ready, and baking two wedding cakes this past Thanksgiving, when our brothers Donnie and Bobby married Misty and Sarah’Lee in a double wedding ceremony. When any one of us needed something, she did her best to lend a hand.

I noted earlier that Pattie and I didn’t really get to know one another until we were adults. We became even closer after Mom died, and after she and Jeff wed (remember how you all got on your honeymoon and realized you’d left all your money at home and we had to wire it to you?!), and of course, after Jack, Joseph and Jesse were born.

When my husband and I moved to Iredell County two years ago, and with all three boys in school, we didn’t see them every week anymore, so had to settle for weekend visits every two months. At our house, Pattie claimed what I dubbed the Carolina room for its obvious decorations, and last year for her birthday, I gave her a large, fluffy Ralph Lauren towel to use on their visits.

John and I delighted in her near-daily calls to share the details of their lives, whether it was for Jesse to serenade us with “Deck the Halls,” or to hear Joseph tell about a school field trip, or for Jack to describe how he’d gotten the Wii properly hooked up, or for Pattie to celebrate their achievements – even each deer that Jeff shot while hunting.

As I know all of you will, I already miss her voice on the other end of the line, the one that said “hey, Sue” when I answered, and then we were off and running.
She will, of course, be ever-present, for I pledge to you Jeff, and to you, Jack, Joseph, and Jesse, that we will be there for you every day, in every way.

And to all of you, thank you from my family for being here tonight to share our love and the life of our sister, daughter, wife, mother, aunt, friend, and most especially, “Miss Pattie” and “Pat-Pat.”

1 comment:

ECUgirl said...

Very nice Suzy. Every time I read something written about her I cry; I know you cannot believe she is gone from us as I cannot.


Marilyn