Jane Gerdes Brook passed away peacefully on Feb. 10, 2023, at Harbor Regional Hospital.
She was born on July 13, 1946, to Arthur and Dorothy Gerdes in Villard, Minnesota.
Eventually the family moved to the West Coast and settled in Westport, Washington. Jane, the second oldest of six children, attended Ocosta High School and graduated in 1964. She then attended business school in Seattle and married her high school sweetheart, Paul Brook. Immediately Paul departed for boot camp and later spent time overseas during the Vietnam War.
Jane worked for multiple businesses in Grays Harbor as a bookkeeper and was a loving stay-at-home mom to her two daughters, Angela and Christina. When her husband was laid off from ITT Rayonier, they made the risky decision to build and operate their own wood chip mill — Harbor Chip. In addition, they created and managed a few other subsidiary timber businesses — Teal Timber and Forest Fibre.
In 1989, they successfully sold their businesses and retired. They enjoyed travelling to the Baja of California in the winter months in their fifth wheel. They camped along the then undeveloped beaches of the Mexican coastline and made some everlasting friendships. Eventually they returned to their South Beach roots, purchased a cranberry farm and became part of the Ocean Spray Cranberry Cooperative. Brook Farms is where Jane spent her remaining years tending to her farm, playing with her grandchildren and enjoying her community.
Jane is preceded in death by her mother and father, Dorothy and Arthur Gerdes, her sister-in-law, Valda Gerdes, and recently her husband of 56 years, Paul Brook. She is survived by her siblings: John Gerdes, Sandy (Charles) Deloe, Karen (John) Horsley, Gary (Linda) Gerdes, and Randy Gerdes; children Angela Brook (Steve Woodberry) and Christina (Jim) Boora and grandchildren Brittani and Jimmy Boora.
A celebration of life is planned for Saturday, Feb. 18, at 1 p.m. at the Ocosta Rec Hall. The service will honor the lives of both Jane and Paul Brook.
Cremation arrangements are entrusted to Twibell’s Fern Hill Funeral Home in Aberdeen, Washington.
