Honoring Our Own

By: BHS News Staff 

February 20, 2024

Hello, Brooklyn! 

Typically every week, the BHS News Staff provides our loyal readers with information on upcoming events and dates. This week, however, will be different as a notable Hurricane alum takes the spotlight after celebrating her 75th wedding anniversary.

Last Thursday, we had the exciting opportunity to interview an extraordinary Brooklyn alumni. Irene (Novak) Wootton is from the class of 1947. She was her class’s salutatorian, a varsity cheerleader, a member of the Honors Society, and had perfect attendance for all four years of high school. 

She was also a cheerleader for the first football game at Brooklyn High School in 1946 and the first Brooklyn Queen during both her sophomore and junior years. In our interview with her, she said that school spirit was very high when she was a student, and football games and other events had school-wide participation.

Novak was definitely a busy student, both in-and-out of the classroom. So, how did she manage her time?

“I don’t know, everything just kinda flowed. It just seems like a long time ago. We didn’t go anywhere and had no phones, so school was everything. I loved school and was always involved in everything. I jumped hurdles, and I played basketball. My mother worked in the cafeteria, so for money, we would do the dishes to help out. We would go to the store after school for ice cream with our earnings. Life was good and simple.” 

Novak fondly remembers growing up in Brooklyn, which she referenced as a very close-knit community.

“I grew up in a farmhouse down on Biddulph Road. Growing up in the Great Depression, we fed a lot of people from our garden; we had four cows and sold milk, along with eggs and vegetables. My mother sewed all our clothes throughout our younger years. Growing up, I babysat down the street for a dollar. I had four brothers, and one of them passed at 13-years-old. Our town was so small that everyone came to the funeral, so people remember it to this day. That’s how everything was with our town, though; we were just a small village with a graduation class size of 28 or 29 students. We all knew each other and did everything together from Sock Hops in the gym to just hanging out. For Christmas, we would get popcorn or oranges, and we were in heaven! We were poor, but we didn’t know it.” 

After high school, Irene Novak became Irene Wootton, as she married her husband and later became the mother of four children. Outside of family, she drove the Parma School Bus for 45 years. She enjoyed the kindergartens along with having the Summers off. 

When asked about her family, she was very excited to share her lineage.

“My whole family went to Brooklyn, including my husband. My husband and I just celebrated our 75th wedding anniversary. He was a surgical technician in the service, and when he got out, he started working at Republic Steel. I met him when we went Polka dancing one night at the Homestead. He came and picked me up, and we danced all night, and after that was history! We dated for about nine months and then got married in 1949 and had our first girl in 1951. We have four kids, all currently in different job fields. When the kids were growing up, we went seasonal camping as a family. We played Bocce, square-danced, and went swimming. Great memories! I also have nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren with one more on the way. Having such a big family, there is always something to look forward to.” 

Currently in her 90s, Wootton has not slowed down, and she does not plan to slow down any time soon.

“My husband and I watch TV, we go on the computer, and we read the newspaper. We don’t have a lot of friends left with us anymore, so we meet with some of the people still around. I do my housework. I like to iron, and I cook three meals a day which I hate because I don’t like to cook! The kids come over a lot, and we have lots of parties because we party for everything. I still drive occasionally to run some errands, and tomorrow, I am going to the hairdresser. My daughter won’t be happy, but what can she do about it?” 😂

In such a fast-paced society with a busy daily calendar, it is refreshing to hear from someone who came before us and how proud she is to have grown up in Brooklyn. Listening to her tell stories about her past, her fond memories, and her family was a breath of fresh air.

Simply, it was an honor to interview Mrs. Irene (Novak) Wootton. She is Brooklyn and makes Brooklyn proud. In her own words, “Brooklyn will always be my forever home!”

Happy 75 years of marriage! May you two be blessed with many more celebrations.