Michael "Mike" D Brooks

Michael D. Brooks, 84, of Newton died on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, at Park Centre.  A graveside service with military honors will be held at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, August 11, at Newton Union Cemetery. Memorials to Progress Industries can be left at the graveside or at the Wallace Family Funeral Home and Crematory.

Mike was born on February 23, 1942, in Grinnell, Iowa to Mark and Madge (Walker) Brooks. He graduated from Grinnell High School. Following high school, Mike entered the United States Air Force, where he was military policeman assigned to the 310th Combat Defense Squadron under the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and was honorably discharged as a sergeant four years later.  After leaving military service, Mike graduated from Iowa Barber’s College in Des Moines.  While at the Iowa Barber’s College, he met his wife of more than 60 years Joan Maurine Gray. They married in 1966 and had two children, Jay M Brooks and Jennifer Lynn Brooks. Mike took a job with Maytag shortly after they married where he trained to become a Journeyman Machine Repairman. He was later promoted to planning and then to management and retired after a 36-year career as supervisor in skilled trades. 

Mike was an amazing father and husband to his family. He was supportive, loving and a generous human being. He loved to fish and hunt and enjoyed fishing with his son in Canada and hunting turkeys on his son’s farm in Southern Iowa. He was blessed to travel with his wife following his retirement around the United States, Europe and the Caribbean. 

Surviving family members are his wife, Joan Brooks of Newton; son, Jay Brooks and his wife, Sandra Zavala of Melissa, Texas; and grandson Marshall Brooks of Huxley, Iowa. He was preceded in death by his parents; daughter, Jennifer Brooks; and brother, Patrick Brooks.

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