Born in Colby, Kansas; daughter of U. S. Senator John Thomas. Student at Mills College 1926 to 1927. Received B.A. from University of Idaho in 1929. Married Arthur J. Peavey, Jr. July 28, 1939. He died in 1941. One of their two children is Idaho State Senator John Thomas Peavey. Married U. S. Senator Charles Wayland Brooks May 8, 1945. He died in 1957.

Served as administrative assistant to her father prior to his death in 1945. Manager of Flat Top Livestock Company in Idaho. Served on Republican National Committee 1956 to 1963 and assistant chairperson 1965 to 1969. Elected to Idaho Senate and served 1964 to 1969.

Appointed 28th Director of the Mint by President Nixon and served September 11, 1969 to February 11, 1977. During her term experimental cents were struck in aluminum and 12 pieces presented to the Senate and House banking committees disappeared. The controversy caused Brooks to seek a medical leave for nervous exhaustion. On January 11, 1977, she was awarded the Alexander Hamilton Award presented by Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon. It was awarded for outstanding work in the Treasury Department. After leaving the Mint she joined Paramount International Coin Corporation as a consultant. Resident of Boise, Idaho, in 1992. Received ANA Medal of Merit in 1988. She died in Twin Falls, Idaho.

Brooks appears on a mint medal (USM 320) as one of the series for Directors of the Mint. Design was by Frank Gasparro. Brooks appears on the Assay Commission Medal for 1971 (AC-115). The obverse was reduced from the regular Brooks medal.

bio: WWA 78; WWAW 77-78; profile: NN/WWH 10/31/72; DOD:SSDI