Former instructor leaves OCC $900,000

Marisa O’Neil

A former faculty member who left the school in 1964 made a $900,000

bequest that took many by surprise.

Costa Mesa resident Shirley Jane Brooke died in March 2003,

leaving the large donation to Orange Coast College, where she worked

from 1956 to 1964. College officials announced the gift last week.

“A lot of times, people will call to let us know they’ll be

leaving us money and get a suggestion,” said Doug Bennett, director

of the OCC Foundation. “But she just wrote it in her will without

telling us.”

The pleasant surprise turned out to be the largest cash bequest in

the college’s history, he said. It’s the fourth-largest donation the

school has received.

It took the college by surprise because she had not stayed in

touch since she left her job on the physical education faculty, he

said.

“She never made a gift to the college in the past,” Bennett said.

“Even though she taught here, she never made a donation and after she

left was never really involved in the college.”

Brooke gave the money to OCC as an endowment, Bennett said. The

foundation will invest the money and spend the proceeds to provide

textbooks for needy students.

The school decided on that approach because so many students have

complained about the rising cost of textbooks, he said. Bennett hopes

they can use about $45,000 a year, starting next semester, to buy or

loan books to students.

“A lot of students gather money for tuition, then get into the

bookstore and can’t afford the books,” he said.

Brooke moved to Costa Mesa when she took the job at OCC and lived

there until her death, OCC spokesman Jim Carnett said. She was born

in Connecticut and attended New York University and Florida State

before serving in the Navy from 1948 to 1952, Carnett said.

At Orange Coast College, Brooke taught physical education classes

in several sports, including basketball and field hockey. She was a

tall woman with a commanding presence, well-liked by her students but

kept to herself, former student Rachel Hamilton said.

“I remember I used to mess around a lot because I liked to laugh,”

Hamilton, 67, said. “I’d do some goofy stuff and she’d never ever

laugh. I could always see the look of mirth in her eye. She didn’t

want to lose control [of the class].”

Brooke also left $100,000 each to Cal State Long Beach and

Pepperdine University. The OCC donation represented the majority of

her estate, Carnett said.

“This is pretty exciting,” Bennett said. “For someone who worked

here eight years to give almost all the money they made to the

college shows the impact we made.”

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4268 or by e-mail at [email protected].