J. Stayton Brooks
b. November 2, 1917 Tempe, Arizona
d. March 9, 2005 Tucson, Arizona
Stayton met Rose when she was a freshman at Patagonia Union High School; he was seven years older than she, and had been raised on a homestead in Sonoita with beef and dairy cattle, horses, and farming - the country life - which was a very different experience from hers as a miner's daughter who had lived in the "big cities" of Globe and Duncan. He gave her his class ring when she was a senior in high school.
In 1942, Stayton was working for the U.S. Forest Service as a lookout on Mount Baldy in the Santa Rita Mountains. On June 28, 1942 he got his usual call from Rose on the Forest Service telephone line and he asked her if she would like to come up on Baldy and be his cook. She said "yes" (failing to tell him that she couldn't cook) and he said, "Meet me in Nogales tomorrow and we'll get married"; Judge Gordon Farley married them at the old Nogales Courthouse on June 29, 1942. They spent the night in Madera Canyon, and the next day they rode to the top of Baldy where they remained until fire season was over in August. Rose remembered "Pinky the mule" as their honeymoon transportation.
Over the next few years, Rose and Stayton lived and worked on several ranches: the Hacienda Los Encinos at Sonoita, the Crown C Ranch near Sonoita and the Andrada Ranch near Vail, but Patagonia was always home for them.
Their son Bill was born in Nogales in 1946 and their daughter Linda was born in 1948 also in Nogales. They decided to stop moving around and to raise their family in Patagonia.
Stayton started a construction and repair business.
In 1979 they purchased property between Patagonia and Sonoita where they could build a new house and raise a few head of cattle and live in the country they loved so much. They called their home the Crittenden Ranch (after the historical Fort Crittenden). The Brooks brand was handed down to their eldest grandson, Will Brooks. Over the years they were active in the community and belonged to the Santa Cruz County 4-H Programs and were Lifetime Members of the Santa Cruz County Fair and Rodeo Association.
Santa Cruz County Fair brochure cover On Mount Baldy
written and edited by Corbin Smith from information provided by Linda Brooks Vensel