Terrill Wayne Brooks, 71, Richmond Hill, Ga.

Terrill Wayne Brooks, known as “Terry Brooks,” was born on March 8, 1954, in Louisville, Kentucky, and passed away on December 22, 2025. He lived in Richmond Hill, Georgia, for the past 28 years.

Terry graduated from Huntingburg High School in Huntingburg, Indiana, in 1972.

He was a retired United States Navy veteran who served during the Vietnam War and was deployed to 46 countries, including the North Pole, South Pole, and Antarctica. He attended the University of Louisville and Memphis State University, earning several degrees, and was honored as a Kentucky Colonel.

Terry was a retired mechanical engineer. While working at Dextrex, he became Chief Engineer of Research and Development and received many patents while developing industrial equipment. He also worked with FKI, Corning, and Weyerhaeuser, and managed 18 Japanese companies building machinery in Kentucky.

He wrote a senior bi-monthly internet newsletter called The Smoke Signal and received the Best of Division award in 2023 and 2024. Terry was a member of the International Studebaker South Georgia Chapter.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Carl Brooks and Shirley Brooks, and his sister, Karla A. Astrike.

He is survived by his wife, Andria Durham Brooks; his son, Leighton Walker Brooks; and his sisters, Jackie Brooks Christie and Angela Klodt.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m., Thursday, January 8, 2026, at Richmond Hill Funeral Home with visitation one hour prior to the service. 

Inurnment services will be held at 1 p.m., Friday, January 9, 2026, at the Georgia Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Glennville, GA, with military honors.