Nancy Amburn Brooks

Home….an important and very personal word in the life of Nancy Sue “Teeny” Amburn Brooks, who went to her final and eternal home with her Savior, Jesus, on July 26, 2023, having lived a life of giving and receiving love in many different and varied homes. It is one of the things she was most looking forward to in her last years, saying, “I’m ready to go home.” The first and only home she knew for her first 18 years was the one she was born in on May 13, 1925, the eighth of eleven children, to Luther Franklin Amburn and Martha Oakley Amburn in Boonville, North Carolina. Growing up in this place, with these parents, her siblings, and her church, Boonville United Methodist, were true blessings and gave her the foundation of her life for love of home, family, friends, and church. Her memories and the stories she shared of what she called, “a precious time in my life” are a treasure for her extended family. In 1943 she met the love of her life, Fuller Hamilton “Bud” Brooks, Jr. They were married on July 30, 1944, and, since he was in the Navy Air Corps, began making a home together in a variety of places. Having grown up in a small town, being in Georgia and Florida was a new, even unusual, experience, for Nancy, yet with Bud by her side, every place would feel like home. With the end of WWII, came college for Bud in Boone, North Carolina, and the birth of their first child, Anne. Then graduate school in Nashville, Tennessee, a job teaching and coaching in Troy, Alabama, and the birth of their second child, Martha. In each location, Nancy made a home for the two of them and their growing family. By 1952, when their third child, Fuller H. Brooks lll, “Trip”, was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Bud had joined the FBI and for the next thirteen years was a Special Agent in Pittsburgh and New Castle, Pennsylvania, as well as Newark, New Jersey. With each relocation, Nancy established new friendships and homes for their family. There was a cross-stitch sampler she made which exemplified her life, “Make new friends and keep the old. One is silver and the other is gold.” While on vacation, and in the process of looking for the right place for retirement, they found Amelia Island, Florida and knew they had found their new home. They built their first of two homes there in 1975, and Nancy enjoyed the retirement life of recreational golf, tennis, bridge, and of course, walking on the beach. She also opened a gift shop, The Trellis, yet always felt comfortable putting the sign on the door that read, “Closed for Golf” or “Gone to the Beach.” When Bud died suddenly and unexpectedly in 1987, Nancy was grateful for the support and love of family and all those many friendships, both the silver and the gold, she had developed over the years. She remained at Amelia Island, moving from the home she and Bud had shared, to Osprey Village, in 1998. It became her new home with new friends, new experiences, and new interests, like the many beautiful, counted cross-stitches she made. She continued playing bridge and walking on the beach, but it was time to give up golf, so her new home was just behind the 14th green where she could watch the golfers coming down the fairway. Cross-stitching was a passion for Nancy and many of the lovely, counted cross-stitches she made remain in the homes of family and friends throughout the country, for she gave them as gifts from her heart and hands. Through the years, Nancy’s children grew up, moved in their own directions, and had homes and families of their own. She always hoped to have grandchildren and said Kevin, Beth, and Raven were the icing on the cake of her life. She dearly loved the three of them, shared their lives, spent as much time with them as she could, considering they lived in other states, and didn’t miss important events like graduations and weddings. Then came, as she said, the cherry on top of the icing – something she never thought about having in her life – the great-grands, Will, Jake, Ashtyn, Liam, and Taylor! They will always remember her times with them and the joy she brought to them. While recovering from a hospital stay in 2015, Nancy told her children it was “time to go home” and she meant it was time to return to North Carolina for her final years where she could enjoy the Carolina blue sky, so she left the beach life to return to where it had all begun ninety years before. It was at Parkwood Place in Elkin that she continued to make a home and new friends for over five years, followed by the last two and a half years in PruittHealth-Elkin. Nancy and her family are grateful for the friendships, care and comfort given by the friends, staff, and nurses at Parkwood Place and PruittHealth-Elkin, for they were her last earthly homes. Nancy was predeceased by her husband, Bud Brooks; her daughter, Martha Brooks McKee; son-in-law Ed Perdue; her brothers, Jim Amburn, John Amburn, Jesse “Boots” Amburn, and Bill Amburn; and her sisters, Mildred Huskins, Lib Edwards, Jennie “Pete” Martin, Pat Brendle Redway, and Sara Lou Brown, who were waiting to welcome her to her eternal home. Nancy is survived by her daughter, Anne Brooks Perdue; her son, Trip Brooks (Alecia); her son-in-law, Bill McKee; her grandchildren, Kevin Gluck (Julie), Beth Gluck Watson (Curtis) and Raven Brooks Bennett; her great-grandchildren, Will Watson (Casey), Jake Watson, Ashtyn Gluck, Liam Gluck, and Taylor Bennett; her brother, Bud Amburn (Allean); and many loving nieces and nephews, including Teresa and Jesse Royall who did so much to assist her when she returned home to North Carolina. A service to celebrate the life of Nancy Amburn Brooks, officiated by Rev. Jenny Stewart, will be held at the Boonville United Methodist Church, 116 North Carolina Ave, Boonville at 11:00 a.m. on August 12, 2023, followed by a luncheon reception. All are welcome to come to share in worship and the luncheon reception. A private interment service will be held at the Boonville Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, if desired, donations in Nancy’s memory may be made to the Boonville United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 178, Boonville, North Carolina 27011. Gentry Family Funeral Service of Yadkinville is serving the Brooks family.