Melissa D. Rooks

Melissa Darling Rooks was born on December 14, 1942 in Evanston, Illinois. She grew up in Highland Park and Wilmette, Illinois. Melissa attended New Trier High School, graduating in 1960. She then attended Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, transferring after her freshman year to Michigan State University, in East Lansing, Michigan, from which she graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, majoring in French and minoring in Spanish. Melissa was previously married to William T. Russell in 1970, and of that marriage was born their daughter Amy Bedingfeld Russell, who survives. Melissa is also survived by her brother John (Mary) Rooks, Sr. and her nephews John (Bridget) Rooks, Jr. and Thomas Rooks. She was preceded in death by her parents, R. Newton Rooks and Ruth D. Rooks, and her sister Mary R. Rooks.

During her working career, Melissa was employed in different administrative roles at Harris Bank in Chicago, and Rotary International in Evanston, as well as in Evanston Hospital Volunteer Department. However, Melissa found her true vocational calling as an educator. During her teaching career, Melissa taught a variety of subjects and age groups, first, right out of college, as a Junior High French teacher, in Palatine, Illinois. She earned a Masters in Elementary Education from Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia, and taught first grade, both in Atlanta and in the Chicago Archdiocese. Melissa taught longest in the Chicago Public School system, at Portage Park Elementary, at first, teaching kindergarten. She was intrigued with teaching students in a highly immigrant-populated area of the Chicago. Therefore, she studied and earned many hours of training in the teaching of English as a Second Language (ESL), eventually earning certification to have a pull-out program classroom for children, kindergarten through 8th grade, from diverse native language backgrounds. Melissa taught at Portage Park Elementary from 1991 until her retirement in 2006.

Melissa loved music with all her heart. She sang in musical groups, beginning in elementary school, including church choirs from third grade through her mid-70s. She sang in choirs and musicals in high school and in college. Melissa also sang in the Apollo Club of Chicago Chorus, the 4th Presbyterian Church choir, in Chicago, the North Shore Choral Association, in Evanston, Illinois, and the Music Festival in Aspen, Colorado. But her favorite would have been with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus, for thirteen years in the 1970s and 1980s, under the direction of conductor Robert Shaw. This memory was one she loved to share with others and, until her last days, would get out CDs and vinyl records of her performances.

Melissa and her daughter, Amy, shared many activities together over the years. Their shared interests included music, figure skating, crafts, and traveling. During her lifetime Melissa prioritized relationships with family and her close friends. Her faith communities, teaching experiences, the various places she called home, her grade school through college, neighbors, and friends with shared interests, along with family, near and far, and filled her life with meaning and richness. Loyal and loving, Melissa was blessed with so many people in her life. Melissa had been a permanent resident of Wilmette from 1985. She died on September 2, 2025 in Wilmette.

A memorial service celebrating Melissa’s life will be held on Saturday, September 27, 2025, 11:00 AM at Kenilworth Union Church, 211 Kenilworth Avenue, Kenilworth, Illinois 60043. All are welcome to this service in remembrance of Melissa, which will be followed by a reception also at the church. The service will be live streamed, the link to which will be available on the church website at kuc.org or from Melissa’s daughter, Amy.

Burial will be private at a later date with immediate family only, at Memorial Park Cemetery, Skokie, Illinois in the Rooks family plot where Melissa’s parents and her sister are buried.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association or to the charity of your choice.