Dennis Jerald Brookman Sr., 63, left this earth Wednesday, November 23, 2011.

He was born January 31, 1948, in Roanoke, Va., to Ernest and Velma Lucille (Keith) Brookman-Cline. He graduated with honors from Illinois State University with a Masters degree in engineering and worked as an aerospace engineer until the 1980s. He switched gears and later worked as a dedicated educator in various California school districts and retired from Nicolas Junior High School in Fullerton, CA, in 2010. He married Anicia “Annie” on her birthday July 4, 2002 (also known as Philippine-American friendship day) and spent the last years of his life living in her native Cavite City, Philippines. 

Mr. Brookman was a longtime staff member at Nicolas and contributed a lot to the lives of the students and staff of Nicolas.  Specifically, Mr. Brookman taught the electronics class at Nicolas for many years, teaching students to work with electronic circuit boards and use equipment like soldering irons to work with electrical gear.  Later in his career he taught math at Nicolas.  Regardless of what he taught, Mr. Brookman was always dedicated to the students at Nicolas Junior High School.  He frequently spoke of wanting to do an excellent job for the students and always wanted to do a better job teaching every year.  Mr. Brookman was even selected as teacher of the year at Nicolas in 2009 in recognition of his commitment to continuous improvement. 

Mr. Brookman will always be remembered at Nicolas for his joyous attitude.  He frequently would sing with his students to get them motivated to do their best in class.  He also sponsored at karaoke club during lunch where students could go to his classroom and sing along to their favorite tunes.  During school dances he would also make his room available for karaoke where students could also have some fun and practice their vocal music abilities.  He even came up with a song to help encourage the students at Nicolas to keep their shirts tucked in which he would sing for his own students and for all of the students during the morning announcements.  Mr. Brookman also participated in many Nicolas student events like our student versus faculty basketball game, school dances and our after-school tutoring program.

We are all saddened to hear of your untimely death and thank you for your years of service to the students and families of Nicolas Junior High School.  This page is dedicated to the memory of Jerry Brookman 1948-2011.