SLY: Farewell to a gracious longtime contributor

Officially, Marjorie Brooks had been retired from teaching for many years, but she was one of those people who never stopped teaching. I count myself among the many who learned from her. Although I never sat in her classroom, she was a role model of grace and how to live vitally in retirement.

At least since the early 1980s, Marge contributed news stories and columns to The Bee. She was a correspondent covering news from Hughson, Empire and occasionally Ceres. She went on to become one of the first senior writers of the Our Turn column. In recent years, she was a regular community columnist on these pages.

Six weeks ago today, we ran her column about another retired educator, Frank Burke, a prolific letter writer who just turned 100.

Marge had more columns she wanted to write. For instance, how the cutbacks in Meals on Wheels would affect seniors, not just nutritionally but socially. That story needs to be told, but it will have to be told by someone else. Marge passed away Thursday from injuries suffered in early July in an auto accident near Hughson. She was 81.

We will miss Marge and her columns, which were often upbeat and were always carefully researched, with the goal of informing, educating and prodding people to do the right thing. She was, after all, a teacher.

Contact Sly at (209) 578-2317 or jsly@modbee.com or on Twitter @judysly.