Brooks Loden Reynolds

Graveside services for Brooks Loden Reynolds are planned for Thursday morning, July 6, at 10 at Whitehouse Cemetery in Lufkin. Born on March 8, 1936 to Essie Brookshire Reynolds and Clem Branch Reynolds, Brooks entered Eternal Life on July 3 at his residence. He was a Believer in Christ, and he is now safely home with the Lord. We give thanks for the unselfish life of this dear man, for he finished honorably the race set before him.

Brooks was the fourth son of five born to his parents, and he became a brother to two younger sisters. When his father died, he was only nine years old, but his remarkable desire to help his mother during the hardships facing his family prompted him to take on as many small jobs as he could find. He faithfully gave her his meager earnings. He mowed yards with a primitive, manual push mower and delivered prescriptions for a local drug store, using an old bicycle to make his rounds. He never strayed from his belief that his family was his shared responsibility. As he got older, his after-school jobs became greater, and he continued to lovingly help care for his family.

The spring following his dad’s death in December, his widowed grandmother asked the family to move to her farm on the outskirts of Lufkin, and they gratefully accepted. His mom had just had her seventh child that April, and Granny, Florantine Brookshire, welcomed them all. The only problem was how to get the family milk cow from the west side of Lufkin out beyond the Brookshire Pond Road to the farm…but once again, Brooks stepped up. He simply put a rope around her neck and led her the entire five or six miles across town to her new pastures. He was a boy of ten.

When his “baby sister” Pat was about to enter first grade, he took her to Perry Brothers and used his nickels and dimes to buy her the needed school supplies…a box of crayolas, a Red Chief tablet and two #2 pencils, only a small example of the tender, kind heart he maintained until the day he died.

Brooks graduated from Lufkin High and won a scholarship to Texas A & M. He left college early to once again return home to his family as older brothers left for jobs and marriage. He took a job with the paper mill, where he entered as a helper and left 35 years later as supervisor of the Machine Shop. In the interim, he married his sweetheart, Sue Colburn, and they had two sons, Roger Brooks and Michael Floyd.

In 1995, his son Roger passed away, and in 2019, his beloved wife Sue died. His brothers, Jeff, Billy, Don, and Max preceded him in death, as did his sister Carolyn. He lived his last four years with his youngest surviving sister, Pat, and his brother-in-love, Johnny Futch, of Hudson. His son, Michael of Austin, and very special nephew, Randy, of Lufkin, also remain. He has a host of other nieces, nephews, and friends, including Steve and Shirley Reynolds of Huntington and Virginia and Ken Mechell of Lufkin, and special friend, Andy Staggs.

Graveside services are set for 10 AM Thursday, July 6th at Whitehouse Cemetery, under the auspices of Gipson Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, his family would greatly prefer any memorial gifts be channeled to Kurth Animal Shelter, 1901 Hill St., Lufkin, Texas 75904, for Brooks loved especially his two pups, Roja and Skipper, both rescues. His kindness was always extended to the furries, as he called them. In summary, the following quotation sums up his life: “Kindness is the greatest endangered thing, and here you are, existing, with your heart so full of it…” Nikita Gill, “Your Soft Heart”