Henry Norman Brooks

Henry Norman Brooks died helping to rescue a girl from drowning, Union, Maine, July 8, 2023. The 13-year-old girl and her 12-year-old sister were playing on a large, algae-covered rock next to where the St. George River empties into Seven Tree Pond when she slipped and fell into the water. The sister extended her hand and attempted to grasp the girl, but she, too, slipped and entered the fast-moving water. Their father, Brooks, 45, climate technology field mechanic, and their 27-year-old brother were at a picnic table nearby at a park when they heard the girls call out for help. Reacting instantly, Brooks and the brother, who grabbed a life jacket that was on the picnic table, ran to the water’s edge. Both Brooks and the brother entered the water fully clothed, with the brother carrying the life jacket. Brooks swam about 15 feet to the girl, while the brother swam to the sister and towed her to wadable water on the opposite shoreline. The brother then swam back toward Brooks and the girl. As the brother approached, Brooks forcefully thrust the girl about 3 feet in the direction of the brother. The brother, who lost sight of Brooks as he reached the girl, grasped her, and then towed her to wadable water, where he, the sister, and the girl all exited the water before being received by emergency personnel on shore. The trio was transported to a nearby medical center; none of them were injured during the incident. Brooks’s body was recovered less than an hour later by a dive team in water about 7 feet deep some 300 feet downriver. He had drowned.