Thomas Overton Brooks | |
---|---|
Chairman of the House Science and Astronautics Committee | |
In office January 3, 1959 – September 16, 1961 |
|
Speaker | Sam Rayburn |
Preceded by | Committee established |
Succeeded by | George P. Miller |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 4th district |
|
In office January 3, 1937 – September 16, 1961 |
|
Preceded by | John N. Sandlin |
Succeeded by | Joe Waggonner |
Personal details | |
Born |
Baton Rouge East Baton Rouge Parish Louisiana, USA |
December 21, 1897
Died | September 16, 1961 Bethesda, Maryland |
(aged 63)
Resting place | Forest Park East Cemetery in Shreveport, Louisiana |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Mary Fontaine "Mollie" Meriwether Brooks (married 1932-1961, his death) |
Relations |
John H. Overton (uncle) |
Children | Laura Anne Brooks |
Parents | Claude M. and Penelope Overton Brooks |
Residence | Shreveport, Louisiana |
Alma mater | Louisiana State University Law Center |
Occupation | Attorney |
Religion | Episcopalian |
Military service | |
Service/branch | United States Army |
Years of service | World War I |
John H. Overton (uncle)
Thomas Overton Brooks (December 21, 1897 – September 16, 1961) was a Democratic U.S. representative from the Shreveport-based Fourth Congressional District of northwestern Louisiana, having served for a quarter century beginning on January 3, 1937.
Of a prominent family, Brooks was a nephew of U.S. Senator John Holmes Overton and a great-grandson of Walter Hampden Overton. At the time of his death, he was chairman of the House Science and Astronautics Committee.
Brooks was born in Baton Rouge to Claude M. Brooks and the former Penelope Overton. He graduated from public schools. Brooks served overseas during World War I as an enlisted man in the Sixth Field Artillery, First Division, Regular Army, 1918–1919.
After the war, he obtained a degree in 1923 from Louisiana State University Law Center in Baton Rouge. He was admitted to the bar and began his practice in Shreveport in Caddo Parish in the northwestern corner of his state.
On June 1, 1932, Brooks married the former Mary Fontaine "Mollie" Meriwether (1904-1995), a daughter of Minor Meriwether (1862-1949), a planter and banker originally from Hernando, Mississippi, and the former Anne Finley McNutt (1865-1943), both of whom died in Shreveport. Overton and Mollie Brooks had one child, Laura Anne Brooks (1936-1994), who like her mother died in Houston, Texas.