William Edward Brooks, always known to all as Bill, was born June 25, 1941 at Toronto, the eldest son of Nelson and Margaret Brooks. He grew up in the downtown Toronto area with three siblings, Betty, Ed and Don. The family faithfully attended Brock Avenue Gospel Hall and later West Toronto Gospel Hall. Bill grew up blessed by parents who made bible reading a central focus of family life. Margaret read from Proverbs with the children every day at lunch time and Bill was familiar with even the most obscure quotations. At age 10, Bill made his own commitment to being a follower of Jesus when he personalized the words of Isaiah 53:6. Throughout the rest of his life he lived his faith not only in practical support of full time preachers and missionaries, and also in countless tasks of quite care for the needs of others. He served as an elder at Brock Avenue Gospel Hall for many years teaching in the bible study and seeing to every detail of maintaining the property. After losing his wife, Ruth, to cancer in 1998, Bill looked for a place he could be fully involved in a cause and he found it in the large scale project of shipping containers of supplies to missions in Zambia with ACCTS (Answering Christ’s Call to Serve.) He was also a keen supporter of the outreach initiative that led to the founding of Agincourt Gospel Hall. Bill’s strength declined seriously after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2008 but he continued to notice and care for those around him, happy to supply sometimes innovative tools wherever he saw an opportunity. When his own strength was compromised, he made three daily trips to walk with his elderly father and thoroughly investigated vision and hearing aids as Nelson’s needs increased. After Nelson’s death in May 2014, Bill continued his daily trips to visit his step-mother Eileen. The family roots in South River, Ontario, gave Bill his love for the north and being outside exploring God’s creation. His memories of Eagle Lake were among his happiest and most lively even if the historical accuracy of the adventures improved with retelling. At school, Bill enjoyed swimming and science. He received his Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Waterloo, and after a short summer course in Education began his career as a science teacher at Bickford Park High School. He later taught special education at Western Tech. Bill was passionate about coaching swimming and one of his proudest moments was leading a team of underprivileged inter-city students to the championship at OFSAA. In 1967, Bill married Ruth McIntosh. The McIntosh family had been good friends of the Brooks at both Eagle Lake and at West Toronto Gospel Hall, and the McIntosh extended family became a very close one. Bill was a loving father to his daughters Deborah and Rebecca. He shared his love for the north with lessons on its fascinating biology and its opportunities for canoeing and photography, and in the city he used wood from an old fence to build a play house complete with glass windows and an attic. When Rebecca married Ron Boyce in 1999, Bill was glad to have a good son-in-law and he was a wonderful grandfather to their sons, Joseph and Andrew. He enjoyed teaching Joe and Andrew to skate and taking them tobogganing whenever the steepest Toronto hills were slippery enough. Bill will be remembered for his passionate interest in the scientific details and statistics of nature, from exploring the feasibility of the biblical story of Noah’s ark to keeping track of daily weather forecasts. He will be missed for his usually quiet and unassuming ways of caring for the needs of others.