John Percival Brooke

Dr. John Percival Brooke passed away on March 5th, 2026, at the age of 92 at his residence in Chapel Hill, NC after a long battle with dementia. John was a beloved Son, Brother, Husband, Father, Uncle, Grandfather, and Great-Grandfather. Known as Papa to his family, he was the epitome of kindness and caring and an example of how to be a good human being to all who knew him. Born on October 20th, 1933, to George and Margaret Brooke in Chicago, Illinois, John was the middle of the three Brooke brothers, in between older brother George and younger brother Robert.

The family moved to upstate New York when John was about 10 yrs old, and then settled in Albion, Michigan where John graduated from Washington Gardner High School in 1950 before going to Michigan Tech University to earn a degree in geological engineering. While a lifelong pacifist, John did serve in the Army 25th Infantry Division during the Korean War using his service to pay for his higher education. He was stationed at Schofield Barracks in Honolulu, Hawaii and worked as a Light Weapons Infantryman/Arms Specialist.

After the Army, John continued his education earning his PhD in Geophysics in Utah before taking up a professor position at San Jose State University in California where he taught Geology from 1961-1996. John spent most of his adult life in California, in 1968 John met a Scottish immigrant named Sheena Mary Turnbull at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. The two married in 1970 and started their lives together by moving to Australia so John could work in the Australian Outback for a year. 

After returning to California the couple welcomed Susan Louise in May 1972 and Karen Irene in September 1975. The family lived a happy life in San Jose CA, with frequent trips back to Edinburgh Scotland to visit Sheena’s family. In February 1993 John and Sheena welcomed their first grandchild, and John’s life as a devoted Papa started in earnest. Three more grandchildren followed, and after John retired in 1996, he spent most of his time with his family but also worked as a docent at the Living History Museum in San Jose. 

In 2004, John and Sheena moved to the Pacific Northwest and settled in Vancouver, WA to retire. After Sheena passed away in January 2013, John moved up to the Seattle, WA area to live near Karen and her family and became a grandfather for the fifth and sixth time before the whole family, including John, moved to Austin, TX in 2019 and then most recently the family moved to Chapel Hill, NC in 2023. 

If you knew John, then you knew that one of his claims to fame was the number of letters that he wrote to serving Presidents over the years.Almost all the presidents since WWII received a letter from John letting them know how he thought that they could do better. As a scientist he was particularly concerned about global warming and climate change, but as a pacifist he desperately wanted his grandchildren and great-grandchildren to live in a world without war. 

John is survived by his two daughters and their husbands Susan and John Holt and Karen and David Kurasch, by his brothers George and Robert and their families, by his grandchildren Wesley, Emily, Natalie, Ashley, Callum, and Cora, and by his great-grandchildren Amelia, Wesley Jr., Carson, Savannah, and Hudson. He will be dearly missed, but is at peace and back with Sheena now, and that gives his family great comfort. No memorial service is planned currently.