Lois Colleen Mahoney was born in Valentine, Nebraska on February 1, 1936 to Lois and Stephen Mahoney. She was the oldest of nine siblings whom she helped raise and nurture throughout her life. Her family moved from Nebraska to Richmond, California where both of her parents worked in the Kaiser Shipyards. Life in the Richmond Shipyard Worker Housing Projects was a formative time for Colleen and she talked about her experience there frequently and fondly. In the early 1950s, Colleen and her family moved to Oakland, California.

While in high school, Colleen met and fell in love with Bernie Brooks. They married in 1955, creating a lifelong love affair, a deep and enduring relationship. Colleen and Bernie had five children, Tim, Annie, Patty, Joe, and Kathleen. They also had fifteen grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

Initially, they lived in Oakland where Colleen and Bernie’s family blended with Colleen’s siblings and parents seamlessly. Colleen and Bernie raised their children with a strong sense of social justice and were very involved in working for movements that supported equality and justice.

Bernie always had a dream of moving to Oregon and having a small family farm. That dream was realized in 1978 when they bought a house with lots of acreage in Sweethome, Oregon and moved there with their two youngest children, Joe and Kathleen in 1978. Colleen always said that the years they spent on the farm were the best of their lives. Their children and grandchildren visited frequently and have dear memories of their time on the farm.

Colleen moved to Vashon in 2014, within a year after her beloved Bernie died. She found her community on Vashon and she embraced it, forming deep relationships. And the Vashon community embraced her. She was a lifelong journaler but did not think of herself as a writer until she joined the Vashon Memoir Writing Group and was encouraged to tell her story. Colleen experienced a lot of grief in her life but was always able to experience everyday delight with ease helping others who were experiencing grief.

Colleen’s spirit was youthful, generous, enormous, and infectious. She lived with an open heart, an open mind, and open arms. So many have felt the warmth of her embrace.

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