June P. Brooks

My name is June Priscilla Brooks and my maiden name is Lohman. My life began June 2, 1933 in Strasburg, Colorado. My parents were Volney "Doc" and Delestal "Billie" Lohman and we lived on a farm. My grandparents on my mother's side were born in the USA and their names were John and Esther Kirk. All I know about my paternal grandparents is my grandmother's name, Nellie Lohman.

I had an older sister, Nedra, and younger twin sisters, Donis and Doris (who was also known as "Little Bit") who have all passed away. I have one brother, Ronald, who lives in Tennessee.

The town of Strasburg was small; it only had a bank, grocery store, post office, gas station and a drug store. Life was so simple when I was growing up. I always loved Saturdays when we went to the "big town" because I received my allowance of 10 cents. I always went to the drugstore to spend it. I could buy a soda or a comic book, or ten pieces of candy for a penny. I usually bought the candy and a piece or two of gum that I would chew for two or three days.

I remember how the dirt smelled when it was freshly plowed as I walked behind the plow with bare feet. I was allowed to walk all around the huge pasture and fields and I collected butterflies and all kinds of bugs and insects and would pickle them in jars. I had quite a collection stored in the old shed.

Also, I remember making mud pies with real eggs that I would get out of the hen house. My mother did not care. Many a time the old hens would peck me as I would try to get the eggs from underneath them. I was always a little afraid of the hens as some of them were mean.

I went to a small country school. There were between 10 – 15 students in all 8 grades combined; with one teacher who taught us all. Every year we had a new teacher. I walked to school, which was a whole mile from the house, even in the first grade, all by myself. Yes, I really did.

My best birthday gift was a used boys black bicycle. I loved to ride it up and down the country roads. It was so hard to get up the hill but so much fun to stand on the pedals and go down the hill with the breeze blowing my hair back and it seemed like I was just flying. My hobby was reading and every birthday and Christmas I received a book. I think I liked the Bobbsey Twins the best.

I can't remember getting into much trouble as a child. I got excellent grades and I always did my chores so I could read or do whatever I wanted.
I first met my husband, Jerry (Gerald), at the skating rink in Denver, Colorado. He was tall and slim (probably skinny but I didn't notice that). I liked his sparkling blue eyes and of course he was very cute. I was 17 and Jerry was 22 when we met. I turned 18 in June and we were married the first of July, 1951. My dad was not very happy because I had a four year scholarship to college.

After we were married, we lived in Denver, Colorado for about two years. My husband was in the Air Force. I worked as an assistant bookkeeper. I rode the bus to and from work downtown as we could only afford one car.

We were stationed in many places while Jerry was in the Air Force. In the States, we lived in California, Massachusetts and Mississippi. Overseas we were in Newfoundland 5 years and Germany 5 years. One year Jerry was stationed by himself in Thailand and I stayed near his family in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We enjoyed seeing many places while we were overseas including; Germany, Bavaria, Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg, England, Italy, Austria, France, Prague and Switzerland.

Our first son, Rodney, was born on May 31st, 1952 at Fitzsimmons Army hospital in Denver.

Our daughter, Susan, was born August 26th, 1955 at St. Luke's hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Our third child, Michael was born on July 21st, 1957 at Pepperrell Air Force Base, Newfoundland, Canada.

It was while we were on a sixty-day leave after serving in Germany for five years that we were introduced to Jesus. My husband's Aunt Gladys and Uncle Mike Walker invited us to visit them in Bell, California, and while we were with them, they asked us to go to church with them. I wore my best sequined dress and the people were so gracious that no one said anything about it. I found out later that Aunt Gladys had the whole church praying for us.

The next day, Monday night Jerry prayed with the pastor. The pastor asked me if I wanted to pray and I said, "No, I'm a Christian." Aunt Gladys gave me the Gospel of John to read while we traveled. It was about six weeks later, the first week of August, 1965, that I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior.

Life was never the same. Jerry went to the Bible College in Colorado. I worked on the Ministerial Course of Studies and eventually we were both ordained; Jerry in 1972 and me in 1977. Praise the Lord!

God has been, and is, so good. Jerry and I recently celebrated our 66th wedding anniversary. Our children are all following Jesus and all of them found wonderful Christian spouses. We have seven grandchildren and ten great grandchildren. We've served the Lord in pastorates in New Mexico, Iowa, Kentucky, Arkansas and California and also as evangelists. Who would have ever believed that God could take such broken vessels and use them for His glory? Truly, He makes all things new.

Although we've been retired for many years but we still carry the burden to share His story.
"And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." 1 John 1:4

June Priscilla Brooks entered heaven on July 12, 2017.