Brooke Allen Calvert Walker, 72, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, passed away peacefully Tuesday, June 4, 2013.  Brooke was born March 25, 1941, in Ponca City, OK. The first child of Floyd Allen Calvert, Jr. and Louise (Niemann) Calvert, she spent much of her youth in Olney, IL.

Brooke was a 1959 graduate of Monte Cassino High School in Tulsa. She attended Manhattanville College in New York prior to completing her Bachelor's degree in Journalism at the University of Oklahoma in 1962, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. She cherished the relationships formed at Monte Cassino and OU her entire life. She also attended college in Switzerland in 1960 and later worked at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, as she was fluent in both French and Italian.

Brooke married Richard Wallace Walker in 1966, and they had three boys, who survive her, Joshua Allen Walker and his wife Johnna (Bachle), of Tulsa; Lucas Taliaferro Walker, of Phoenix, AZ; and Zachary Myers Walker and his wife Melissa (Croom), of Frisco, TX; and seven grandchildren. 

She is also survived by her brother, Hal Niemann Calvert; and a nephew, Timothy Allen Calvert. She was preceded in death by her parents and her sister, Melissa Taliaferro Calvert.

This passage from her 1959 Monte Cassino yearbook describes her best: "Her quiet, unpretentious personality was often charged with humor and forgetfulness. She is good as she is fair."

Brooke was very proud of her father and maternal grandfather; both early Oklahoma pioneers. Her father, Allen Calvert, was a respected Oklahoma oilman, and her grandfather, Dr. George H. Niemann, was the first surgeon in Ponca City. Brooke was a relentless disciplinarian raising her three sons. As they grew older, Brooke purchased a villa in the small town of Porto Colombo on the island of Sardinia, Italy, and enjoyed many summers at her favorite place on earth. Brooke traveled frequently and had residences in Gold Beach, OR; Bonita Springs, FL; Blue Ridge, GA; and Payson, AZ. She returned home to Tulsa in 2004, where she loved preparing wonderful meals at the request of many family and friends.

Published in Oklahoman, The (Oklahoma City, OK) ~ Sunday, June 9, 2013