Voices of the
BIG BEND
Jim Glendinning The Galloping Scot, Author, World Traveler and tour operator to Copper Canyon, Mexico.
Story and photographs by Jim Glendinning
BILL BROOKS
Bill Brooks was born in Norfolk,
VA, to Jack and Elizabeth Brooks, the
second of four children. His father
was a flight engineer in the Army Air
Corps; his mother was an English
teacher. She interpreted the disrup-
tion to his studies due to frequent
moves positively. “Think of it as an
adventure,” she said.
Schooling was in El Paso, Japan,
Guam, and back again to El Paso,
where he graduated in 1963 from
Burgess High School. He played
trombone in the band. Music was to
play a role later in his life. He attend-
ed Texas Western University (now
UTEP) for two years before deciding
that college was not for him.
Instead, Brooks took jobs as a disc
jockey with local rock and country
music stations. The Vietnam War
intervened. Recruited by Army
Intelligence, he enlisted in August
1965. He trained in counter-intelli-
gence, studied Chinese for a while,
and served in West Germany. Later,
he spent 19 months in Vietnam,
extending his one-year tour.
During the 30-day leave that was
granted between tours, he came back
to El Paso. A friend fixed him up with
a blind date, Margie Rogers, whom
he married on 26 September, 1969,
and who bore three children,
Jennifer, Betse and Stephanie. The
couple moved to Maryland, where
Brooks continued working in counter-
intelligence. He quit the Army in
1972 as a Chief Warrant Officer.
Brooks moved to Alpine and start-
ed Territorial Printers. He went on in
1977, with Bob Dillard, to buy the
Alpine Avalanche, then an independent
newspaper, before selling in 1990.
Next he got involved with selling
computers and writing software. He
12
Cenizo
BILL BROOKS
Alpine
became one of the first internet serv-
ice providers. “I enjoyed it all,” he
says.
Brooks’s career then took a differ-
ent turn. In June 2002 he joined US
Customs and Border Protection and
became Chief of Public Affairs along
the southwest border, subsequently
supervising 10 persons. It was at this
time that the Border Patrol’s Citizen’s
Academy was started, seeking to
improve relations with the local com-
munity. Brooks participated, and the
Big Bend project was considered a
success.
Retiring from full-time work in
2014, Brooks now works part-time for
the Border Patrol, teaching uni-
formed agents how to deal with the
media.
Brooks continues an involvement
with SRSU that started in 1978. In
Second Quarter 2016
ALLYSON SANTUCCI
Alpine
that year, the SRSU theatre program
needed a trombone player for a musi-
cal. Shortly after, Joanna Cowell
needed an actor for the play Salt of the
Earth, which she directed. Brooks fit
the bill and was hooked. Since then
he has acted in dozens of performanc-
es.
Another hobby is the Big Bend
Amateur Radio Club. Brooks derives
great pleasure connecting up, relishing
the number of contacts he makes
worldwide, with radio hams in far-
flung places around the globe. At
home, he enjoys practicing on his
trombone in his radio room, which he
calls his “man-cave.” He has also been
involved with the Cowboy Poetry
Gathering since its inception, and visi-
tors to this year’s Gathering doubtless
heard him effortlessly introduce some
of the participants.
MICHAEL “AKU” RODRIGUEZ
Balmorhea
ALLYSON SANTUCCI
Allyson Santucci was born in April
1951 in Rockford, IL. Her father,
Antonio Fera, worked in sales for a
heating equipment company. Her
mother Ethel, born McFalls, had four
other children, all boys. Allyson was the
youngest in the family.
Schooling was in Rockford, and she
graduated in 1969 from a Catholic
high school, which she remembers as
being “pretty strict.” She was a good
student, studying English and lan-
guages. But family life was shattered
when her mother died; Allyson was
seven years old.
After high school, Allyson moved to
Chicago to live with her dad, who
worked there. She enrolled in Chicago
City College, majoring in languages.
There she met a fellow student,
Antonio Santucci, whom she married