Brooks Godfrey, 1936-2013
Brooks Harker Godfrey was born December 11, 1936 in Tampa Florida to Robert and Maxene (Stowell) Godfrey. He died peacefully August 30, 2013 at Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo Michigan. A lifelong resident of Kalamazoo, Brooks was Senior Principal and Member of the Board of Directors of the architecture, engineering and design firm Kingscott Associates, from which he retired in 2011 after 45 years of service. With his colleagues, he designed dozens of schools across Michigan and the Midwest and Northeast United States. Among the projects he led in the Kalamazoo area are the Epic Center, additions to the First Presbyterian Church and the award-winning renovations to Chenery Auditorium. Other notable projects include additions to Holland High School in Holland, Michigan, winner of several national education awards, and Perry Child Development Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan, a groundbreaking early childhood learning center and winner of the William W. Caudill Citation. He served as President of the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo and was a member of the board of the New Vic Theater. He graduated from State High in Kalamazoo, where he was an accomplished athlete, and Rice University in Houston, Texas, where he met and fell in love with Mary Vaughan Noguess, a Texas native. The couple married in 1959. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his brother Clarke (Kathy) of Denver, Colorado, sister Lane Odalovich (David) of Davison, Michigan, and the couple's sons, Dewitt Godfrey (Monika Burczyk) of Poolville, New York and Jay Sherman-Godfrey (Gretchen) of Astoria, New York. Nephews Chris Godfrey, Brock Odalovich, Levi, James and Tanner Noguess and niece Sarah Harper also survive, along with four grandchildren, Gemma and Georgina Godfrey and Malcolm and Lillian Sherman-Godfrey. Brooks was an avid golfer and longtime member of the Gull Lake Country Club, where he recorded four holes-in-one. He was a member of the Rice golf team, and partnering with Jim Rock, he won the second annual Kalamazoo Country Club Invitational tournament in 1955. In 1999, he played golf for the Michigan Transplant Team at the Transplant Games of America, where he was awarded a silver medal. His ashes will be interred at Ross Township Cemetery, near his home at Gull Lake.
