Barbara (O'Connor) Brooks

West Des Moines

Barbara Brooks, 70, passed away Tuesday, June 26, 2012 at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. A private family service will be held with entombment at Resthaven Mausoleum in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Barbara was born October 23, 1941, in Chicago, Illinois to Audrey and Terrence O’Connor. She is survived by her best friend and soul mate Edward, her three brothers, Bob O’Connor (Molly), Greg O’Connor (Paula) and Bill O'Connor (Marge); three sisters, Christine Williams (Jack), Kathy Shaw and Sandra Zyks (Bill); her daughters, Theresa Berrey (Jay), Jean Vest (Gene) and Barbara Goodson, and many beloved grandchildren and great-grand children – each one who held their own special place in her life and her heart. She was preceded in death by her parents, Audrey and Terrence, and her son Joseph.

Her interests were too numerous to count and ignited her imagination and life-long desire to chase after life from a very early age. She had a love for travel which she pursued with a boundless energy and excitement. She was an avid reader with endless curiosity and a thirst for knowledge, who embraced life with a fierce sense of adventure. In her later years when adversity challenged her again and again she faced it with stunning optimism, great strength, extraordinary courage and the amazing gift to bend with the adversity but not break.

She had a deep faith which she shared freely, walked in daily and modeled with grace and conviction to the very special blessing of her family and all who knew her. The deepest joys in her life were her love of God and sharing the adventure of this life with the man she loved and the family she built her world around.