Obituary of June Evelyn Brooker

Passed away on August 9, 2011 at Halquist Memorial Inpatient Center of Arlington, VA, following a stroke. Born in Buffalo, NY, on June 17, 1921. Survived by husband, Arthur “Bud” Brooker of Falls Church; sons Michael of New Hampshire and Jeffrey of Falls Church; daughters Holly Laffoon (Larry) of Fort Washington, MD, and Melissa of Falls Church; granddaughters Heather West (Dan) of Longmont, CO and Lauren McCloud of Belfast, Northern Ireland; and one brother, Russell Bergan (Elsie) of Buffalo, NY. Also survived by her cat, Lola. Predeceased by parents, Ole and Amalia Bergan; sisters Marion Bergan, Eleanor Wahl, Gladys Saxton, brother Norman Bergan. And predeceased by many beloved cats. At age 13, she was photographed walking across a covered bridge with five other children on their way to East Seneca School. That photograph was published in the local Buffalo newspaper on May 13, 1934. She graduated from Ebenezer High School in Ebenezer, NY in 1939 and at 21, she worked as a detail draftsman at the Curtiss-Wright plant outside of Buffalo, tracing drafting plans for P-40 fighters. She married Ensign Arthur Brooker in Opa Lacka, Florida, on August 28, 1944. They lived in Buffalo following WWII, then when her husband rejoined the Navy in 1952, moved to Jacksonville, Florida. The family moved to the Washington, DC area in 1955, eventually settling in the Broyhill Park area of Falls Church. In the 1970s, she started working for Sears, Roebuck, eventually becoming supervisor of the telephone room at the catalog ordering store in Fairfax, VA. She traveled the world after retiring, visiting Norway, the Holy Land, Greece and the Mediterranean. She made a trip to England with her husband and daughter Holly when she was 80 years old. She was a member of the Broyhill Park Garden Club. She was profiled in a Washington Post feature story to coincide with the opening of the World War II memorial on the National Mall in 2004. She loved animals, gardens, and decorating. She was an excellent cook and always made sure that her family celebrated the holidays beautifully. Family and friends alike delighted in the traditional Norwegian holiday treats she made from family recipes, and in the spirit of the season, she extended hospitality to anyone who had no where else to go to celebrate the holidays. She sewed clothes for herself and the family. She was a domestic goddess and a great lady.