[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 34 (Tuesday, March 4, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E359-E360]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO DR. MARION JACK BROOKS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARTIN FROST

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 4, 2003

  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a local 
pioneer and doctor in Fort Worth, Texas. Dr. Marion Jack Brooks died on 
Monday, March 3, 2003, at his home in the city's Morningside community. 
He was 83 years old and a true local success story. He graduated from 
the former I.M. Terrell High School near downtown and was a founding 
member of Morningside United Methodist Church.

[[Page E360]]

  Dr. Brooks began practicing medicine in North Texas during the 
1950's. He and his brother Dr. Donald Brooks opened their own clinic 
that is still family owned and operated, on Fort Worth's famous Evans 
Avenue. During those days, when segregation was an awful reality in 
Texas and the entire South, black families who resided in the city 
could always count on Dr. Brooks to provide medical care for the 
children and the sick in their households.
  Mr. Speaker, it is also important that I note the many contributions 
that this great man made outside the field of medicine. Like many of 
our institutions that existed before the days of the Great Society, 
hospitals and medicine were not immune to the realities that African-
Americans faced based solely on their skin color.
  When his patients needed treatment, Dr. Brooks was forced to treat 
them out of a basement at the old St. Joseph's Hospital. He was 
outspoken until local hospitals decided to do the right thing and 
change their policies. He also led a march from Fort Worth to Austin 
that coincided with Dr. Martin Luther King's famous pilgrimage on our 
nation's capitol. He also was active in local politics and was a 
driving force behind the Tarrant County Precinct Council.
  Dr. Brooks will be missed by his friends, family and community. He 
leaves behind a great legacy that will live on through his work in the 
sciences, the Sickle Cell Anemia Association of Texas, and an annual 
scholarship awards presentation for which he is the namesake.

                          ____________________