Brooks Boeke Carr

Dora Brooks Smoot Boeke Carr of Arlington Virginia since 2013, died October 24, weeks short of her 95th birthday. It was 94 plus years full of family, culture, and exploration of art and intellect. In short, a full life well lived.

A native of Indiana, she was born in 1929 in Washington IN to Emory Brayton Smoot, MD and Christine Kinney Smoot. She laughed at her unusual name. Her parents had picked Sally when her grandfather, Dora Brooks Smoot MD, died the day she was born and she was subsequently named for him. Her father and grandfather were both doctors in Washington, IN and her grandfather who also had a degree in pharmacy, owned the town pharmacy on Main Street. It was one of the first locations in Indiana for Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. The ice cream chairs used for those meetings are still in the family.

Brooks attended St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame and was graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle IN, where she met her first husband, Michael W. Boeke.

They lived in Indianapolis for almost 50 years, where they raised six children and were actively engaged in the social and cultural life of the Indiana capitol.

Brooks served on numerous civic and cultural boards while in Indianapolis, most notably the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Her other volunteer roles included:

President of Indiana Endowment for the Arts,

VP of the Indiana Committee for the National Museum for Women in the Arts,

Board member of the Indiana University Press,

Board member of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union Foundation.

She received several awards acknowledging her altruistic spirit, being named “Volunteer of the Year” by the Indianapolis Arts Council and “Best Behind-the-Scenes Civic Player” by Indianapolis Magazine.

After her first husband’s death in 1980, she launched her professional career lobbying for the arts. These positions included

Director of Corporate Communications for the Indianapolis Economic Development Corporation,

Assistant Director of the Indianapolis Project,

Six years as President and Director of Indiana Advocates for the Arts.

Her work in the Arts culminated with her position as Director of Marketing and PR for the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indian and Western Art. She helped Harrison Eiteljorg with his planning and building this museum and continued to work there and build its reputation. The museum features significant items and narratives of native American art and culture as well as a range of works by well known American artists recording the native peoples’ lives and culture.

Brooks spent several years in real estate sales for FC Tucker Realty before retiring at 72. She and her second husband William HA Carr, an author and newspaper editor from New York, moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia to be closer to her four daughters, all of whom lived on the East Coast.

In 2013, she moved to Arlington, VA where she established a new life and wonderful group of new friends.

Her life in full can’t be summarized without noting her series of poems, written over 40 years and commenting on her ever-evolving reactions to life’s constantly changing challenges. A collection of her poetry is in development.

She spent 30 winters going to Sanibel with friends and loved to walk the beach and collect shells. As she aged, she loved to go through her dishes of shells and identify each shell as part of her memory work. She continued to read and watch movies and enjoy her collection of American tribal art and African ceremonial masks.

She loved swimming and tennis and not only attended the Indy 500 for many years but she and Bill were members of the 500 Festival Committee for two terms.They hosted a 500 festival princess in their home for each of the six years they served on the committee. The were proud that two of the six years, their princess was named queen.

Brooks is survived by her son John (Lianne) of Noblesville IN, daughters Jennifer (John) of Arlington, Brooks of Washington, DC, Beth (Jay) of St. Michael’s MD, and Christine of New York. Her son Steve (Abby) preceeds her in death. She had twelve grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Her children will remember all their wonderful years with her and the example as parent and citizen and friend. The poem below is from her collection.

Almost

I almost didn’t get pregnant five times.

I was unpaid innkeeper who almost rebelled

but stayed the course.

I almost gave in to the sugar coated cereal,

the mind numbing TV.

But “Let them eat Twinkies”?

Never!

Almost old and surrounded by love returned from the “almost five.”

It was worth it!