- Date Of Birth: January 1, 1922
- Date Of Death: October 27, 2015
- State: Florida
William (Bill) Emmett Brooks, Jr. of Gulf Breeze, FL died peacefully at the age of 93 on October 27, 2015. Born in Brewton, AL on January 1, 1922, Bill was the eldest of three children born to William Emmett and Catherine Ryan Brooks. Bill began a long and distinguished career in journalism at an early age, working for his father at the weekly paper, The Brewton Standard. At the University of Alabama, Bill met his future wife Edward (Ed) Archibald and majored in journalism. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa honors fraternity, Phi DeltaTheta social fraternity, and was named a member of Who’s Who among students in American universities and colleges (1943). Bill and Ed graduated from Bama in 1943 at which point he joined the U. S. Navy. He was commissioned as an Ensign, USNR following Officer Candidate School at Columbia University in NYC. He served in the Atlantic theater aboard the USS DuPont (DD-152) and later in the Pacific at the end of the war aboard the USS O’Brien (DD-725). Bill remained “on duty” as a U. S. Navy Reserve Officer and retired with the rank of Commander.
