John Brooke

Chase Jackson Brooke, Jr
by Chase Brooke
Sep 2023

Chase Jackson Brooke (Jack) was born 11 Jan 1915 in Clifton, Graham, AZ. (1) When Jack was 10, the family moved to Rosita, Mexico where his father was the accountant for the ASARCO Coal Mine.   Jack went to T.M.I. (Texas Military Institute) in San Antonio, Texas for his high school years where he met Jack Shaw, the brother of Lucy Shaw. He then went to Rice University in Houston, Texas where he received a degree in mechanical engineering.
He married Helen Bushnell on 24 Dec 1936 and settled in Lake Charles, LA. (2) She died six months later in a car accident near Beaumont, TX  on 6 Mar 1937.  They were moving from Lake Charles LA to Houston, TX and she was driving a car right behind his car.  Jack saw the accident in his rear view mirror.  The accident happened on a Monday and they took her to a hospital thinking she might live, but she died the following Saturday. (3)
He went to work for Hughes Aircraft in Shreveport, LA.   About a year later Jack's mother became ill and was hospitalized in Temple, TX.  Her nurse was Lucy Shaw. As stated, he had met Jack Shaw at TMI. So, when Jack went to visit his mother he recognized his friend's sister.    They started dating and he married Lucy Shaw on 26 Aug 1939 in San Antonio, TX. (4) 
Their first son was born in July 1940, but Lucy Shaw Brooke went to Laredo Texas to deliver the child and then returned with him to Monterrey when he was two weeks old. When Jack signed his WWII draft registration card on 30 Nov 1940 he was working for the United Gas Co in Shreveport, LA. (5)  Jack went back to Monterrey to pick up his wife and son and returned to Shreveport.  In 1942 he moved to El Paso, Texas to work for the American Smelting and Refining Company. (6) The company then sent him to their refinery in San Luis Potosi, Mexico where he spent two years.  In 1944, he returned to Monterrey to work for Union Carbide.  In June 1944 his second son, John, was born. 
Jack's  mother, Ann Young Brooke, wrote many letters to her brother Field in 1938-1941.  On Jan 9, 1941 from Rosita, Mexico she wrote,  "Jack and Lucy and the baby could not be here.  Jack is still down close to Shreveport, Louisiana.  In his last letter which was only a few days ago he didn't know how much longer he would have to be there.  I think too he was getting pretty anxious to get back to Lucy and the baby.  They have the nicest kind of a baby.  He looks like Jack but he is not thin like Jack when he was a baby.  He is fat."
Their two sons went off to boarding schools and then college.  In 1960 Jack took a job working for the coal miles in Cypress.  They lived there until Greece and Turkey started fighting over the land.  The company told them to evacuate but they could not leave their dog behind, so they did not leave Cypress until 1974 when they retired to Spain.  In 1980 they moved back to the United States to Wimberley, TX. 
The last move was to Napa, CA to be near their son John.  Jack Brooke died there 26 Dec 1993 at the age of 78. (7)

Sources

(1) Birth Certificate

(2) San Antonio Light Newspaper  27 Dec 1936

The marriage of Miss Helen Elizabeth Bushnell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. S. Bushnell of Rosita, Mexico, to Chase Jackson Brooke Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. C. J. Brooke, was solemnized at Christ Episcopal church at 10 o'clock Thursday morning, December 24, with the Rev. Samuel Capers officiating. The altar was barked with ferms, palms and white chrysanthemums.  Oscar Fox, organist, played the brtdal chrus from "Lohengrin." The bridge, who entered with her father, worse a gown of moire taffeta made with full skirt and fitten bodice and leg o'mutton sleeves, which formed a point over the hands.  Her veil was held to her head by a band of lace. The bridal bouquet was of white rosebuds and lillies of the valley. Mrs. Allen C. Franklin, matron of honor, wore a gown of royal blue taffeta and carried a bouquet of pink rosebuds. Mr. and Mrs. Brooke will make their home in Lake Charles, LA.

(3) Helen Bushnell died:  06 March 1937

The Liberty Vindicator, Wednesday March 10, 1937 Mrs. Brooke was injured when her car collided head on with a truck -----Just as Mrs. Brooke. who was moving from Lake Charles to Houston, started on the county line bridge, a large blade on the (truck's) grader caught on the banisters of the bridge and the impact threw the truck directly in the path of Mrs. Brooke's car.  ----C.J. Brooke, Jr. husband of the deceased, was driving another car a few feet in front of her and saw the wreck in his rear view mirror.

(4) Marriage certificate of Chase Jackson Brooke to Lucy Shaw

(5) WWII draft registration card

(6) 1942 El Paso City Directory
Brooke Chase J (Lucy M) h 3000 Altura blvd

(7) California Death Index

1916

1917

Abt. 1925

Jack with his cousins.  Jack is center back

School photo, Rosita, Mexico. Jack is second from left.

Los Angeles 1927  His grandmother, Carrie, is far left.  Jack tall boy in  back.

Los Angeles 1927  Jack is tall boy in back.  His grandmother, Carrie, is at far left.

.

C. J. Brooke with Jack Abt. 1933

1939 Housston

Abt. 1948 in Monterrey, Mexico with sons John and Chuck

1960 Cypress

1967 Willingboro, NJ son John Brooke, grandson John Brooke and Jack

Christmas 1972 Mexico City