Harold Joe Brooks July 9, 1949 ~ October 29, 2022 (age 73)

Obituary

Harold Brooks was born July 9, 1949 at the family home several miles west of Floyd, NM at the place they called the Mesa. He passed away at home on October 29, 2022 after a lengthy illness.  There will be a memorial service Saturday November 26, 2022 at 1:00pm at the First Baptist Church.  There will be visitation with the family after the service in Fellowship Hall at the church.

Harold was the youngest of seven children born to JD and Lucille (Nance) Brooks.  His parents owned and farmed a half section of land there.  The dryland farm was located just a few miles northwest of the Mesa school building on land that is now part of the USAF Melrose Bombing Range.

At the age of four and after a drought, the family moved closer to Floyd to work on area farms for a while.  For several years, they would travel by wagon at times to go to church on Sundays. He accepted Christ as his Savior at an early age. He attended Floyd schools until 1964 when the family moved just west of Portales where his Mother started her new job at ENMU.

In 1966 during his senior year, he met his future wife, Cyndi Owen.  He graduated from PHS in 1967.  In 1968 he started working for Charles and Sara Lacey at Portal Farm Services. He worked full time during the day while taking night classes at ENMU after work.  He joined the National Guard in 1969. He left for basic training at Fort Bliss in El Paso in late May 1969.  He served in the National Guard for 6 years.  Soon after basic training he returned to Portales, and returned to work at Portal Farm Services and married his wife on October 18, 1969. They had 3 sons, Brandon, BJ and Matthew over the next few years.

He and his wife attended ENMU off and on until 1974 when they purchased Portal Farm Services.  He continued working as either an owner, manager or crop consultant at the same business for the farm service industry the next 47 years.

He and his wife sold the business in 1990 to Anderson Grain Corp.  He started working for Anderson Grain as the general manager of the Portales location and 5 other locations in New Mexico and Texas for the next 5 years until AGC went into receivership and he and his wife got the business back from AGC.  They went into partnership with Kirk Bryant with the new business called Southwest Ag Inc.  They operated the business together with Kirk until 2005 when Kirk purchased it.  Harold continued working as a crop consultant for Kirk until his retirement in 2015.

In 1985 they planted 380 pecan trees at their home west of Portales.  He often commented that you could travel anywhere, anytime since you didn’t have to feed them like you did livestock.  He spent many hours maintaining and nurturing the trees, grassland and alfalfa around their home.  The orchard and the surrounding acreage were a constant project for him.  He enjoyed being outside and working on the place, which he did almost every day.

He enjoyed spending time with his sons, his daughter-in-laws, and grandkids as well as working with his horse and golfing with friends several times during the week.

He and Cyndi traveled to all but one of the 50 states during their marriage.  They also took many trips all over the world with his sister, Evelyn and her husband for over 15 years.  His favorite places to visit overseas were New Zealand and Scotland.

In 2000 he and his wife acquired their residential contractor’s license.  They built houses and apartments for the next 15 years.

After his retirement he and his wife continued operating their rental business together.  They just celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary the week before his death.

He is survived by wife Cyndi, his sons Brandon (LaDawna) of Portales, BJ (Melanie) of Canyon, TX, and Matthew (Amy) of Lubbock, TX.  His surviving brothers and sisters are Emmit (Betty) Brooks of Las Cruces; Eunice McFarland of Payette, Idaho; Colleen (Jody) Stowe of Lubbock, TX; Evelyn Schneider of Lubbock, TX; and Jake (Cindy) Brooks of Nashville, TN; and by his grandchildren, Brianna Brooks, Meghan Brooks, Tobin Brooks, Kambri Brooks, Isabelle Brooks, Rosalind Brooks and Nathanael Brooks.

He was preceded in death by his parents, and his sister, Frances Gent.

In lieu of flowers, please give to the cancer charity of your choice.

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