Naomi V Brandon

Naomi Virginia Booker Brandon, age 97, passed away peacefully in the early morning on Wednesday, December 25, 2024, in Montclair, New Jersey.

Born to the late Mary Reese and Thomas Booker on November 1, 1927 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Naomi was the first of her generation in the family to be born and raised outside of the South during the Great Migration. After the death of Thomas Sr. in April 1930, Naomi, her brother Thomas Jr., and their mother resided in a shared household with Mary’s identical twin, Ida, and her husband George Crawley. In 1933, Mary Booker married James Goodman, Sr., and the birth of their son James Jr. on December 25, 1934 completed the family unit.

Naomi spent her youth surrounded by family. On April 11 1925, Mary and Ida’s parents and remaining siblings joined the twins in New Jersey, where they resided in Montclair and Bloomfield. The Reese family was large- there were 13 siblings- and Naomi was the eldest grandchild. Naomi was also one of several grandchildren in the Booker family, with whom she spent many summers and extended visits in Kenbridge, Virginia and remained in close lifelong contact. Naomi attended public schools in Bloomfield, Montclair and Kenbridge, graduating from Montclair High School in 1948. During her lifetime Naomi worked at Remco Toy Factory, MGM Records, and she was very active working in two family-owned catering businesses, Reese Catering and Wood Caterers.

On August 6, 1949, Naomi married Alonzo Brandon in Newark, New Jersey. The couple began their married life living in Bloomfield with close friend, Corinne Davis and her family, when their eldest child, Alonzo Jr., was born. Their daughter Roslyn was also born while living in Bloomfield. They then moved to Montclair, and welcomed the births of two additional sons, Barry and Craig. The Brandons made their permanent home in Montclair at 77 North Fullerton Avenue. This was a home with an abundance of love, and in addition to raising their own offspring there, they opened their home and hearts to a foster son, the late Michael Johnson, and four of Alonzo’s young cousins, Frederick and Shawn Bowers, Randall Cobbs, and the late Michael Graves.

For Naomi, family didn’t just come first, family was everything, and if you were family you belonged to her. She maintained close relationships with her grandparents and cousins, and her bonds with her aunts and uncles were so strong that many of those relationships were more sibling-like. She spent close to 15 years as a caregiver for her grandchildren and the children of relatives, friends and neighbors. Over a span of 97 remarkable years, she began her life representing the future of a transplanted family trying to find a new way away from home, and when her life ended she was the last remaining bridge to those early generations who set our family legacy in place a century ago. It is the end of an era.

Naomi maintained a decades-long membership at Union Baptist Church of Bloomfield, where she was President of the Senior Choir and a member of the Pastor’s Aid and the Busy Bees. She also participated in activities such as the Essex County League of Volunteer Workers, Inc., the Montclair African American Heritage Association, the Women’s Community Circle, and the Survivors Bowling League, where she maintained a 40-year membership and served as its Treasurer.

Naomi was predeceased by her husband of 64 years, Alonzo Brandon; parents, Mary Goodman and Thomas Booker; brothers, Thomas Booker, Jr. and James Goodman, Jr.; nephew, Thomas Booker III, and goddaughter, Brenda Anderson. She leaves to cherish her memory: her children, Alonzo Jr., Roslyn, Barry, and Craig; son-in-law, Roger S. Terry Sr., daughters-in-law, Jacqueline and Deborah Brandon;

sister-in-law, Ethel Booker; 13 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren; beloved godson, Mark Howard Peters; goddaughter, Lorne Johnson; and many cherished cousins and friends.

In Lieu of Flowers please make a donation in the name of Naomi V Brandon to Union Baptist Church, 31 Conger St, Bloomfield, NJ 07003.

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