"Give all to love; obey thy heart."

Surrounded by love and light, Louise Emerson Brooks died on September 2 from complications following cancer surgery. Born in upstate New York to Carson and Patricia Brooks, Louise was brought up in Richmond, Virginia with brothers Judson, Carson and Frederick. Raised in the Episcopal Church, her childhood rector was John Shelby Spong. Like her mother and grandmother before her, Louise attended the Rogers Hall School for Girls in Lowell, Massachusetts.

She fondly recalled summer visits to Los Angeles with her Uncle Hal – actor Hall Smith who played Otis Campbell on The Andy Griffith Show – and was “bit by the show business bug” at an early age. After earning her degree in theater arts from the University of Richmond, Louise moved to Southern California to pursue an eclectic media career in radio, television and filmmaking.

She landed in Santa Monica where she met her best-friend-for-life Julena Lind -- and they began compiling an impressive resume of shared road trips, board games, holidays and major life events. In 1980 she broke ground as one of the first women producers for ABC’s Wide World of Sports at the Lake Placid Olympics – and whether it was producing a radio talk show or daytime dating show, writing a screenplay or consulting on an international game show, Louise brought her gifts and skills as a consummate media professional.

Her credits included “The Love Connection” and “Leeza” – for which she received an Emmy nomination. A member of the Screen Writer’s Guild she also taught screenwriting and earned a law degree from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles. One of her great career delights was combining her experience as a producer with her love of travel in her work for Warner Brothers as an international format production consultant – work that took her from Paris to Mumbai to Kuala Lumpur to Santorini.

Louise found her way back to the church of her childhood, becoming an active member at All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills where she was a founding member of the congregation’s gay and lesbian ministry – and also served as a lay Eucharistic minister. It was in the context of that work that she met Susan. After knowing each other for a number of years as friends and diocesan colleagues they began dating in early 2003 – and they celebrated with great joy the blessing of their relationship … surrounded by friends and family … on February 18, 2006 at All Saints Church in Pasadena.

In recent years, Louise applied her vocational gifts to the work of media training and consulting for justice concerns, serving as the communication director for California Faith for Equality during the Prop 8 campaign and working with the Human Rights Campaign nationally. In the Episcopal Church she was a valiant leader in the movement for full inclusion for LGBT people and her legacy includes the Via Media teaching videos and the award winning “Voices of Witness” documentary series. She was extremely proud of the work she did when the IRS came after All Saints Church in 2005 and she counted as one of her greatest lifetime achievements equipping Ed Bacon to stay on message.

Her most recent project – “Voices of Witness: Out of the Box” -- was released in June and was influential in securing legislation to include gender identity and expression in the non-discrimination canons of the Episcopal Church. It will continue to change hearts and minds as it moves into wider distribution with study guides in both English and Spanish and a Spanish translation is in the works.

Louise’s passions included politics, travel and football; spending time with her beloved Luna, Juno and Baby; beating Julena at Scrabble, the Name Game or basically any game; and pointing out to Susan that the other freeway lane was moving faster. She was a loyal friend, loving sister and partner and faithful truth teller. She loved good wine, action movies, and using her gifts to make a difference.

Louise is survived by her partner of nine years Susan Russell and stepsons Jim and Brian; her brother Fred Brooks, his wife Joy and son Clayton; her decades-long sister-friend Julena Lind, her husband Leon and son Jackson; along with scores of colleagues and friends.

In our grief at her loss, we take comfort in the words of Bishop Steven Charleston, which will be part of the celebration of her life at All Saints Church in Pasadena on Saturday, September 8 at 11:00 a.m.

I rise to sing the joy of simply being human. I do not deny the pain I have known, the losses and the grief, but I will not let bitterness be all that I taste of life. There are too many sunsets that leave me standing still before their beauty, too many babies wheeled by in strollers that make me smile, too much love in the eyes I see from faces wrinkled by time but timeless in their wisdom. All of creation calls me to celebrate. All of life invites me to dance. Therefore I choose to carry my pain with head held high and walk the blessing way until the last lights fade.