A love that bloomed for decades
PAULINE and Desmond Brooks didn’t like to be apart during a lifetime of love that began when they were primary school students.
Last Thursday night, Mrs Brooks, 85, went to sleep with her beloved husband and companion of 75 years holding her hand.
She died in her sleep that night after a long battle with motor neurone disease.
Tributes have flowed for the much-loved socialite.
The couple’s son Darwin wrote on Facebook: “The grand dame passed peacefully on Thursday night holding hands with her one and only love. They had been together for over 70 of her 85 years of life.”
Born Pauline Bent, Mrs Brooks met Desmond at a Melbourne milk bar when she was 11 and he was 12.
As teenagers they lived 132 steps apart, something Desmond later described as a “long-distance relationship”.
The couple moved to the US the night they were married while Desmond pursued his architecture career. He designed buildings in Hawaii, China and Japan.
“It was funny but everybody else was horrified,” Mr Brooks said in a 1990 interview. “Nobody did such brave things in those days.
“We knew one day we’d get married and go to America. We accomplished the dream.”
They lived a high-flying life together, travelling the world, but were never far from each other’s side.
Friends told the Bulletin yesterday the couple were “inseparable” and never out of love.
After living in the US for 25 years, the couple arrived in Queensland in the early 1980s. The Gold Coast was a different place to Hawaii and Mrs Brooks said she hated it.
That soon changed as buildings designed by Mr Brooks began to rise. These included Palazzo Versace, Sheraton Mirage, The Marriott and Royal Pines.
Well-known faces on the Gold Coast’s social scene since the mid-1980s, the couple also took many cruises in recent decades.
Mrs Brooks’ funeral will be held on Friday at Clear Island Waters’ Sacred Heart Catholic Church from 10.30am.