Celebration of Life was held at Bethel Baptist Church on Wednesday, February 24, 2021. Final arrangements were entrusted to Anderson-Ragsdale Mortuary.
Helen Faye Elston-Brooks was born in Dallas, Texas to Samuel and Lela Mae Elston on October 7, 1922. Helen attended Pacific Avenue and Julius C. Frazier Elementary Schools. She attended Booker T Washington High which was the only high school for Black students. In 1939, Abraham Lincoln High School opened for Black students and Helen was a student of the first graduating class in 1940.
Helen attended St Mark Baptist Church, and Bethlehem Baptist Church. Helen was an active member at Munger Avenue Baptist Church where she sang in the Congregational Choir, member of the Young Women’s Auxiliary, and BYPU.
As a young woman, Helen worked as a Typesetter for the Dallas Gazette in Dallas and Joseph Owens Print Shop.
In May 1942, she married Leon Douglas Brooks Sr. To this union, four children were born. She attended Dallas Vocational School of Nursing in 1958 and graduated at the top of her class as a Licensed Vocational Nurse.
In 1962, Helen and family relocated to San Diego, California. She immediately commenced her employment in 1962 at Mercy Hospital. Helen sought better employment and moved on to U.S. Public Health in 1968 until early retirement in 1980.
In August 1962, Helen, united with Bethel Baptist Church. She was a member of the Jr. and Sr. High Fellowships Senior, Choir, Vacation Bible School, Pearl Frye Mission Circle, and Nurses Ministry. In 1984, she became an active member of the San Diego Black Nurses, Inc.
Helen was a devoted mother, grand, and great-grandmother. She always instilled Christian morals, and values in her children and others. Helen is survived by four children, Leon Brooks, Jr., Charles Michael (Clara), Faye Helen (Larry), and Carolyn Joyce, sister Lelya Mae Sampson, grandchildren, Alycia Ballou (Gary), Julia Diane Whitley- Larsen (Michael), Leon Brooks III, Traza, Jabari (Nyshema), Eric Shakir (Chalae), Jamal (Natalie), Rashaad Brooks-Provost (Clara), sixteen great-grandchildren, and three great-great grandchildren, niece Evelyn Elston-Olier, nephew Harry J. Elston (Yukari), Cashalla Bowens and a host of nieces, nephews, and cousins.
