Brooks, Susan
BROOKS, Susan
Susan Brooks died at her Lenbrook home in Atlanta, on May 5, 2023, with family by her side, losing a years-long battle against Huntington's Disease. She was 70.
Susan was a loving and devoted mother, wife, friend, and community advocate.
Incredibly strong, loyal, and compassionate, she put morality, service, education, and travel at the center of her life. She loved her family and her family loved her. She was a woman of God and a devoted member of Covenant Presbyterian Church for decades. She was intelligent, beautiful, and persistent. She was a fighter. She was the consummate advocate for her fellow human being. She had a heart for other people, what they needed, and how she could help them. She loved politics, was a life-long progressive Democrat, and supported her community in as many ways as possible.
She absolutely loved the beach and looked for ways to get there every chance she could. She loved to travel and experience new places. She loved to cook and bake, and was amazing at both. She loved the Braves and going to games with her family. She bled Duke blue and Duke Basketball was one of the greatest passions of her life. Her son, Patrick walked on the Duke basketball team, and Susan spent those four years with her husband, Tom and son, Steven going to as many games as possible, often bringing other family and friends along for the ride.
She loved anything and everything purple. She loved dragonflies, sunflowers, gardening, Cheez-Its, getting her nails done, good company, good food, and a cold glass of white wine. She loved taking weekend trips up to Big Canoe, having breakfast with the Wednesday morning group at the Roadhouse, and supporting her sons at their countless games, performances, and events. She loved her life and the people in it.
Susan was born at Lake Wales Hospital in Lake Wales, FL, on February 13, 1953, to Jane Murray Brooks and John Coffee Brooks. Her childhood was spent primarily in Orlando, FL, and then Fort Pierce, FL. She was co-salutatorian of the first graduating class of Fort Pierce Central High School in 1971. Fort Pierce Central had been created as the first racially integrated high school in the county, and it was there that she first demonstrated her community advocacy as a member of the school's Student Bi-Racial Committee, formed for the students to have a forum for discussion and communication among themselves and with the administration and community.
She attended Florida State University her freshman year, before transferring to the University of Florida and finishing her undergraduate education there, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. After taking a gap year to work for a local Fort Pierce law firm, she attended law school at Duke University, where she met her first husband, Michael Richard Johnson. Shortly after graduating in 1978, she and Mike were married in the Duke Chapel. After getting married, they moved to Atlanta and purchased a home in Virginia-Highland. In this home, they would have and raise their two sons, Patrick and Steven Johnson.
Susan began her legal career with the DeKalb County District Attorney's office, working in the appellate division and handling grand jury presentations. After leaving the DA's office to raise her sons, she continued to use her legal skills as an advocate with the Women's Policy Group. She also dedicated untold hours to the Grady (now Midtown) Cluster of Atlanta Public Schools, serving in numerous leadership roles, including as President of CINS (Council of Intown Neighborhoods and Schools).
In 1990, Susan was the lone survivor of a car crash with a drag-racing drunk driver that killed her first husband, Mike and their two best friends. A widowed single mother of two young boys, she fought to show up every single day and build a life in which her sons could thrive. In 1995, she married Thomas Richard Daniel, Jr. at Covenant Presbyterian Church. They moved to a house in Morningside, raised their family together happily, and lived there until Tom's death in 2018.
Susan delighted in creating a beautiful home in which she could entertain friends and family, and could always be talked into spending time on her beloved screen porch, preferably sipping a gin and tonic while wearing her signature flip-flops. Later in life, when she was diagnosed with the incurable Huntington's Disease, she brought the same determination and resolve to fight that battle as she had her entire life.
Susan is survived by her sister, Dickie Brooks; and brother-in-law, Michael Cool; five sons, Thomas Daniel III, David Daniel, Hays Daniel, Patrick Johnson, and Steven Johnson; her five daughters-in-law, Beth Daniel, Anne Daniel, Kelly Needs, Meaghan Leon, and Sarah Johnson; and her eight grandchildren, Miriam Daniel, Hannah Daniel, Colden Daniel, West Daniel, Owen Daniel, Dillon Daniel, Olivia Johnson, and Jane Johnson.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Huntington's Disease Society of America at hdsa.org.
