Mary Brooks | |
|---|---|
(Gerald_Ford_Library)_(cropped).jpg) Betty Ford (left) meeting with Mary Brooks, 1975 | |
| 31stDirector of the United States Mint | |
| In office September 1969 – February 1977 | |
| President | Richard Nixon Gerald Ford |
| Preceded by | Eva Adams |
| Succeeded by | Stella Hackel Sims |
| Member of theIdaho Senate | |
| In office 1963–1969 | |
| Succeeded by | John Peavey |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mary Elizabeth Thomas (1907-11-01)November 1, 1907 |
| Died | February 11, 2002(2002-02-11) (aged 94) Twin Falls,Idaho, U.S. |
| Nationality |  United States |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Arthur J. Peavey, Jr.[1] (widowed 1941) Charles W. Brooks (widowed 1957) |
| Children | John Peavey (1933-2024) Elizabeth Ann "Betty" Eccles (née Peavey) (1936–2004) |
| Parent(s) | John Thomas Florence Johnson |
| Alma mater | University of Idaho, B.A. 1929 Mills College, A.A. 1927 |
Mary Elizabeth Thomas Peavey Brooks (November 1, 1907 – February 11, 2002) was an American politician. She directed theUnited States Mint from September 1969 to February 1977.[2]
Mary Elizabeth Thomas was born toJohn Thomas and Florence (Johnson) Thomas on November 1, 1907, inColby,Kansas. Her parents moved toGooding,Idaho, in early 1909 when she was 14 months of age. Her father was a rancher and banker; he was appointed aU.S. Senator from Idaho twice (following the deaths ofFrank R. Gooding in 1928 andWilliam Borah in 1940).[1]
An only child, Thomas graduated fromGooding High School in 1925, and attendedMills College inOakland,California, then a two-year women's school.[3] She transferred to theUniversity of Idaho inMoscow in 1927, where she was a member of theKappa Kappa Gammasorority,[4] and received herbachelor's degree ineconomics in 1929.[5]
She met her first husband, Arthur Jacob "Art" Peavey, Jr. ofTwin Falls, while they were students at the University of Idaho. He was a member ofPhi Delta Theta fraternity and also graduated in 1929.[6] He drowned in a boating accident on the Snake River in 1941[7] and wasn't found for ten days,[8] which left her a widow in her early thirties with two young children. A short time later her mother died,[3] so she moved her family to Washington, D.C., where her father was serving in theU.S. Senate.[9]
Her second husband,C. Wayland "Curly" Brooks, was aU.S. Senator from Illinois. They were married in May 1946 for eleven years, until his death from a massive heart attack in 1957. After he left the Senate in January 1949, they had lived in theChicago area.[7]
Brooks took over her father's Idaho sheep ranch after his death in 1945 and ran it until her son took it over in 1961.
Brooks was elected to theIdaho State Senate in 1964,[10] and served until 1969, when she was named to head theU.S. Mint by PresidentNixon in September. Her son,John Peavey, was appointed to her seat in the state senate and served for all but two of the next 25 years. (He lost the Republican primary in 1976, then won the seat back as a Democrat in 1978.) A failed attempt at lieutenant governor in 1994 marked the end of his political career.
President Nixon appointed Brooks director of the U.S. Mint, the third woman named to the post. She oversaw the first production of theEisenhower dollar coin, as well as the design of theBicentennial quarter, half dollar, and dollar coins for theUnited States Bicentennial.[11]
She is credited with saving the originalSan Francisco Mint building, known as the "Granite Lady," by transferring it to the Treasury Department.[12] The building, one of the few to survive theGreat Earthquake of 1906, had been vacant since 1937 and fallen into disrepair.[13] It is now both aNational Historic Landmark and aCalifornia Historical Landmark. Brooks received the "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" Award in 1974 from the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau for her preservation efforts.[14]
During Brooks' tenure as Director of the Mint, she famously led a tour of theU.S. Bullion Depository atFort Knox,Kentucky for members ofCongress and thenews media on September 23, 1974.[15][a] As of 2012[update], this tour still is the only time that the inside of the USBD has been seen by members of the public.[17]
In addition, Brooks was awarded theAmerican Numismatic Association's Medal of Merit in 1988,[18] and was the first woman to receive theUnited States Treasury Department's highest honor, the Alexander Hamilton Award. She was inducted into theUniversity of Idaho Alumni Association's Hall of Fame in 1970. The university also conferred upon her an honorary doctorate in 1999.
Brooks died in 2002 at age 94 inTwin Falls. She was survived by a son,John Peavey (1933–2024), of Carey, and a daughter, Elizabeth Ann "Betty" Eccles (1936–2004), ofMcCall,[9] and six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
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| Preceded by | 31stDirector of the United States Mint September 1969 – February 1977 | Succeeded by |
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