Brook and her husband Bill are 30+ year residents of James Island’s beautiful Lighthouse Point neighborhood. Brook is a dedicated community leader, having served on the Town’s Board of Zoning Appeals for 11 years – five of those years as Chair – and as President of Lighthouse Point’s Civic Club for over 18 years. Having witnessed firsthand the Town’s struggles to incorporate over a period of two decades, Brook became involved in the “Free James Island” effort in 2011 to incorporate the Town of James Island one last time permanently, and has been committed to serving the Town ever since.
Brook was born and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina, another historic coastal community. She obtained her Business Marketing and Management degree from St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, NC, and later went on to earn a Masters degree in Business Management from Webster University in Myrtle Beach, SC. She moved to the Charleston area to work as the first Development Director for Bishop Gadsden Episcopal Retirement Community, where she was instrumental in spearheading BG’s capital campaign for their first major expansion. While working there, Brook completed the National Planned Giving Institute at the College of William and Mary.
Brook later joined her husband Bill in starting their own small business as catastrophic insurance adjusters. The duo ran a successful business for over 15 years, traveling across North America to communities devastated by tornadoes, ice storms, and many hurricanes, such as Floyd and Katrina. Many times, Brook and Bill would be some of the first responders to arrive after a major weather disaster to assist traumatized residents in putting their lives back together.
Now retired, Brook stays busy in service to her neighborhood and to the Town of James Island. As President of the Lighthouse Point Civic Club, Brook sends out an annual neighborhood newsletter, plans the annual community picnic with a group of wonderful volunteers, and works with the Town of James Island to advocate for Lighthouse Point sidewalks, drainage, and road safety improvements including the radar sign on Fort Johnson Road. She also was instrumental in researching and fundraising to secure the historical marker in the neighborhood commemorating Lighthouse Point’s 3-4,000 year old shell ring and Col. Robert Rivers. Under her leadership, the Lighthouse Point Civic Club has grown from approximately fifteen dues-paying members to 150-200 families each year, and the historic Indian Mound Park – previously maintained solely by volunteers – is now professionally landscaped on a regular basis.
Brook and Bill keep busy maintaining rental homes on James Island and being available for their tenants’ concerns. They enjoy trips to their cabin near Brevard, NC with their two Australian Shepherd mixes, Perfect and Rowdy, and (purrfect) cats Katy and Annie. Brook has been passionate about animal welfare her whole life, having adopted her first dog at age seven when a shepherd-collie mix followed her home from school. Since then, she’s adopted many strays and rescues and helped to find homes for many others. Brook’s joys include maintaining her large vegetable garden–always sharing the bounty of her harvest with friends and neighbors–kayaking, and long walks on Folly Beach.
