[ad_1]

Blair William Brooke

January 19, 1931 –
April 3, 2020

Blair William Brooke, 89, of Fort Ashby, W.Va., was called home to his heavenly Father on Friday, April 3, 2020, after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease.
The son of the late Ira Lewis Brooke and Nellie Mae (Emmart) Brooke of Fort Ashby and Bedford, Pa., Blair was born Jan. 19, 1931, at home on Painter Hollow Road in Alaska, W.Va. (now Fort Ashby).
He is preceded in death by parents; his mother/father-in-law, Raymond and Edna (Smearman) Lepley, Mount Savage; his half-sister, Nora, who died in infancy; his brother, Donald “Sonny” Brooke and sister-in-law, Marie; and his brothers-in-law, Donald Cox, of Bedford, and Robert “Bob” Lepley, of Cumberland.
Blair was a life-long dairy farmer. Throughout his childhood, his family milked cows and made and sold butter and cottage cheese, and Blair ran a milk delivery route in Fort Ashby on his bicycle every day before school.
Blair was a member of Fort Ashby’s Trinity United Methodist Church where he taught Sunday School as a young adult. He graduated from Fort Ashby High School in 1948 and went into a full-time dairy business partnership with his brother, the late Donald “Sonny” Brooke. The brothers were business partners for nearly 30 years, first at the “Washington Bottom Farm” that is the current site of Rocket Center, W.Va., and later across the river at the “Barton Farm” along Route 220.
Blair was drafted to serve in the U.S. Army at the end of the Korean War, and he served his country from 1956-58, including serving one year overseas as an Army truck driver in Germany helping to rebuild roads and infrastructure in the post-World War II “Marshall Plan” effort.
In 1970, Blair purchased the “Center Valley Farm” in Friends Cove, near Bedford, and began his own independent dairy operation. Blair bred and managed his small Holstein herd to consistently rank as one of the top 10 milk producers in all of Bedford County. A crowning achievement as a herdsman, he bred two nationally ranked cows certified through the Dairy Herd Improvement Association.
Blair held lifetime memberships in the Holstein Association, USA, and the American Quarter Horse Association. An accomplished horseman, Blair was a founding member of the Hi-Rock Saddle Club in McCoole, and he was also a member of the Mason Dixon Saddle Club in Wellersburg, Pa., Allegany Saddle Club, Cumberland, and the Upper Potomac Saddle Club of Keyser, W.Va. He enjoyed showing horses in halter, western pleasure, and reining. He loved trail riding with his friends and, especially, with his daughter.
After retiring from the dairy business, he became a herd supervisor for Dairy Herd Improvement Association (later Dairy One) and ran a part-time hauling service for local farmers needing to get their stock to auction. He also embarked on a very successful second career in bringing horses from the Midwest to sell to horse lovers young and old, experienced and beginner. He truly enjoyed helping people to find their own joy in horses by matching people’s skill-level and interests with the appropriate horse(s) in his barn. He sold hundreds of head of quality registered and unregistered American Quarter Horses and Quarter Horse-types throughout Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Blair is survived by his wife of 47 years, Carole Ann (Lepley) Brooke; his daughter, Deanna Brooke Armentrout and husband, Jason; his two grandsons, Nathan Blair and Joshua Dorrin Armentrout; his sister, Colleen Cox, of Bedford; his sister-in-law Chris (Lepley) Lease and husband, Frank, of Wellersburg; nieces and nephews; many friends; and his horse, Mr. Mo Pete, and “the cat” Stampy.
Due to the current precautions necessary during this global pandemic, a memorial service to include all friends and family will be planned for a later date at the Brookedale Farms Stadell.

Published on April 5, 2020

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

[ad_2]

Source link