Stennett H. Brooks was a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

and the former president of the Northeastern Conference of Seventh-Day Adventist Churches. Prior to becoming the president, Brooks served as

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

for more than 20 years. Brooks died of injuries sustained in a car accident on April 4, 2008. He received the

United Negro College Fund UNCF, the United Negro College Fund, also known as the United Fund, is an American philanthropic organization that funds scholarships for black students and general scholarship funds for 37 private historically black colleges and universities. ...

Distinguished Alumnus Award that same year.

Early life and education

Stennett H. Brooks was born July 19, 1932, to Roger and Jelina Brooks in Puerto Cabezas,

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

. The oldest of six children, three of whom preceded him in death, Brooks attended school in

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

before enrolling at

Oakwood College Oakwood University is a private university, private, historically black Seventh-day Adventist Church, Seventh-day Adventist university in Huntsville, Alabama. It is the only Historically black colleges and universities, HBCU owned and operated by ...

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...

Career and personal life

While in Jamaica, Brooks worked with the West Jamaica Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists as an

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...

bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...

assistant manager, and member of a singing quartet. In 1959, Stennett married Erma R. Parchment. They moved to New York, where he joined the staff of the Northeastern Conference of Seventh-Day Adventist. They had three daughters, Andrea, Audra, and Amalia. After continuing his education at Oakwood, Brooks returned to the Northeastern Conference and served as the conference's accountant, secretary-treasurer and treasurer before becoming conference president. As president, Brooks oversaw the construction of a nursing home, senior citizen housing, the Northeastern Conference Headquarters building, the purchase of a high school and the development of a

campsite A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using te ...

. In addition to his work at the Northeastern Conference, he loved to travel. He was certified as a cruise counselor by the

Cruise Lines International Association Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) is a cruise line trade association. It merged with International Council of Cruise Lines (ICCL) in 2006, forming an expanded organization incorporating the existing functions of both organizations. The ...

and was a member of the

American Society of Travel Agents American Society of Travel Advisors (abbreviated as ASTA) is a trade association which was formed to represent and defend the business and regulatory public policy interests of travel intermediaries, including travel agency, travel agencies (incl ...

and its Industrial Committee. Brooks died April 4, 2008, of injuries sustained in an automobile accident.

Honors and awards

Brooks was honored by the

as the 2008 Distinguished Alumnu
UNCF Announces 2008 Annual Award Recipients
He had been a member of the Greater New York Inter-Alumni Council/UNCF for over ten years and has served as the Annual Dinner Journal Committee Chair and Chaplain. He was also the president of the A. Samuel Rashford chapter of the Oakwood University Alumni Association and was recently elected president of the New York Chapter of the

Northern Caribbean University Northern Caribbean University (NCU) is a private, liberal-arts institution owned and operated by the Jamaica Union Conference (JAMU) and the Atlantic Caribbean Union Mission (ACUM) of Seventh-day Adventists, and is located in Jamaica. With its ma ...

Alumni Association.

References

External links

Profiles (Conference President)

Regional Conferences

Interview of Stennett Brooks by Margo Nash, July 10, 1974

Brooks, Retired Northeastern Conference President, Killed in Crash

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110725125251/http://calunah.org/brookss.html CALUNAH mourns the passing of Stennett H. Brooks
The Passing of Stennet Brooks

Rebroadcast: Northeastern Conference mourns the passing of Stennett H. Brooks

UNCF honorees

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Stennett H Seventh-day Adventist religious workers 1932 births 2008 deaths Oakwood University alumni American Seventh-day Adventist ministers Nicaraguan Seventh-day Adventists Nicaraguan emigrants to the United States Road incident deaths in New York (state)

Early life and education

Career and personal life

Honors and awards

See also

References

External links