Dr.Joyce E. Brooks

DR. JOYCE BROOKS 

CANFIELD:  Funeral services will be held on Friday, June 7, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. at Austintown Community Church for Dr. Joyce E. (Hoyt) Brooks, 84, well known educator and community leader, who passed away on Thursday, May 30, 2024 at her home in Canfield. She was born on Oct. 1, 1939, a daughter of Carl and Marie (Wemple) Hoyt.

     Although she was dedicated to her career and community service activities her greatest love and pride was of her husband, Loran W. Brooks, whom she married on June 15, 1958, and her 3 children, Loran D. (Margaret) Brooks, Cheryl (Al) Montag, and Cindy (Jim) Corll; her 9 grandchildren, Joe, Zachary, Jacob (Laurel Levine), and Katelynn Corll; Nicholas  and Father Matthew Montag; Aaron, Ethan, and Madeline Brooks; and her dear cousins and their families.

     She was preceded in death by her parents.  She honored their memory by following their advice to always remember to thank others for their love and support. She often personally and publicly thanked family, friends, neighbors, students, and colleagues for any success she achieved.  She called them “angels in her life”.  She quoted her parents, who taught her the value of education, to realize that “no one excels alone”.  

     She graduated from Canfield High School, received her bachelor and master degrees from Youngstown State University and completed post-master and doctoral studies at YSU, Bowling Green State University, Kent State University and the University of Akron.  She was awarded an honorary doctoral degree in humane letters from YSU in 2009.  She began her career in education as a teacher in the Greenford Local Schools and was a reading specialist for the Canfield School District. She was the director of a federal Right-to-Read Project in Canfield, an instructional supervisor and director of personnel for the Mahoning County Schools and Youngstown City Schools.  After her retirement she served as the assistant to the dean of the Beeghly College of Education; the coordinator of the Mahoning Area Consortium Tech Prep project; the coordinator of the Mahoning Valley Vision for Education business/community/education project and was a founding member of the Mahoning Valley Opportunity Center Governing Board.  She was one of the initial Ohio educators trained as a Praxis III new teacher assessor by the Ohio Department of Education and served as a consultant to ODE in developing mentor programs for educators throughout the state.  She was a former member and past president of the Mahoning County Educational Service Center Governing Board and the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center Board of Education.  

     Among the many awards Dr. Brooks received during her career was having the Conference Center at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center named the Joyce E. Brooks Conference Center in her honor. She was named a Master Board Member by OSBA and was the Northeast Region OSBA representative on the All Ohio Board, the most prestigious award granted by the State School Boards Association.  She received the Outstanding Leader Award from the Ohio Education Service Center Association; the YSU Alumni Association Involvement Award; the Outstanding Educator Award from the Industrial Information Institute Inc.; the first recipient of the College of Education Outstanding Alumni Award; the Beeghly College of Education Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award, was an Athena Award nominee, and received the Valley Legacy Award for the Outstanding Senior for Professional Excellence.

     She served as a member, and held leadership positions, in several educational associations, including the Mahoning Valley International Reading Association; Ohio School Boards Association Board of Trustees and Executive Committee; president and member of Northeast Regional Ohio School Boards Council; YSU Beeghly College of Education Visitors Committee; Kappa Delta Pi Gamma Pi education honorary society; and the Harwood Public Schools Leadership Project.  She was a life member of the YSU Alumni Society and the Mahoning Retired Teachers Association. 

     She was actively involved in the Mahoning Valley community.  She was a lifetime member of the Austintown Community Evangelical Covenant Church serving as a deacon, elder, past president of the congregation and a member of the Joyous Believers small group; a member of the Board of Directors of the Associated School Employees Credit Union; a member and past president of the Canfield Republican Women’s Club; a member of the Mahoning County Bicentennial Committee and the Canfield Schools 200 Year celebration committee. For her community service she was awarded the Federated Women Community Service Award and the Dublin Grange #1409 Canfield Community Citizen of the Year Award.  In 2016, Joyce and Loran were selected to be Co-Grand Marshals of the Canfield July 4^th parade.

     Friends may call from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Friday, June 7, 2024 at the Austintown Community Church 242 S Canfield-Niles Rd, Youngstown, OH 44515, followed by the funeral service at 11 a.m.

     In lieu of flowers, monetary tributes may be made in her name to the Austintown Community Church Memorial Fund, 242 S. Canfield-Niles Road, Youngstown, Ohio 44515; the YSU Beeghly College of Education C/O Youngstown State University Foundation, 655 Wick Avenue, Youngstown, Ohio 44502 or online at ysufoundation.org by clicking “Give Now”; or the Canfield Education Innovation Fund, 100 Wadsworth Street, Canfield, Ohio 44406 or online at canfieldschools.net.