Mary Grace Brooke

Mary Grace Brooke (June 17, 1933–July 31, 2026)

Mary Grace Brooke (née Shoemaker), 93, passed away on July 31, 2026, from complications of dementia. She was born in 1933 to Mary Frances Highsmith and Peter Douwe Shoemaker, a 1919 immigrant from The Netherlands. She was raised with her older brother, Peter Jr., and lived in Jacksonville until she attended Florida State University, graduating in 1955.

She met Alban Emerson Brooke of Sandy Spring, Maryland, when he was her brother’s roommate at The Citadel. Alban and Mary Grace married in 1955 and lived in Maryland while Alban was attending law school. Mary Grace taught elementary school in Maryland and, later, in Jacksonville public and private schools.

In 1957, they had their first son, Allan, when living in Maryland. When they moved to Jacksonville, they had their daughter Grace in 1960. Their second son, Peter, was born in 1971.

Mary Grace’s life changed when Peter was born with severe developmental delays. She cared for him with relentless affection and dedication from 1971 until 2016, when the death of her husband of 61 years and her own illness made that impossible.

She moved to the Windsor at Ortega in 2017, where she continued to enjoy family and friends until the pandemic lockdown of 2020. Peter passed away in 2020. The lockdown was difficult for Mary Grace, but she was able, with her normal good cheer, to provide some entertainment for other residents of the Windsor (since outside performers were not allowed in) by playing the piano for them, an activity that she was able to do long after she began having difficulty speaking and caring for herself. After restrictions were eased, though, she again enjoyed her family outings, including weekly brunch on Saturdays and occasional excursions to Franklin, North Carolina.

Throughout the years, she was a leader of the Junior Women’s Club of Jacksonville, worked with the March of Dimes, sang in the choirs at Riverside Presbyterian Church, First Baptist Church, and Christ Church, served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1976, helped lead a singles group at First Baptist Church, ministered as a teacher and leader of Bible Study Fellowship, and was a long-time supporter of the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival.

She was a devoted believer in Christ. Her faith deepened in the 1970s and she was instrumental in bringing her various family members into the fellowship of Christ. Through her entire life she loved music, particularly singing and playing the piano, and today and forevermore she sings the praise of Jesus in the presence of the angels.

She is survived by her son, local attorney Allan F. Brooke II (Katherine), her daughter, Grace Brooke Huffman, M.D. (Steve), of Fredericksburg, Virginia, her grandchildren — Alban Emerson Brooke II (Marie), Philip Davis Brooke, Ph.D. (Cecilia), Priscilla Mary Brooke, Sarah Katherine Brooke, Thomas Tarlton Brooke (Lexi), and Thomas Brooke Huffman (Mickayla); her five great-granddaughters: Emerson (in Jacksonville Beach); Monica, Evelia, Philippa (in Atlanta); and Amelia (in Fredericksburg); and her brother, Peter (Wanda) of Edinburg, Virginia. She was blessed to have many of her immediate family living close by over the last decade and was able to see all of them in her last few months.

Her family deeply appreciates the attentive care provided by the staff of the Windsor at Ortega, Community Hospice of NE Florida and her private caregivers. 

In lieu of flowers, donations to Community Hospice of NE Florida

(https://www.thefoundationcares.org/give) 

or Bible Study Fellowship (BSF)

(https://www.bsfinternational.org/support/bsf-worldwide/) would be appreciated.

A Memorial Service and reception will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 29, 2026 at Westside Chapel, 4541 Shirley Ave., Ste 8, Jacksonville, FL 32210.

Arrangements by Naugle Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 1203 Hendricks Avenue, Jacksonville, FL (904) 396-1611.