Angela Christina Hughes Brooks

It is with profound sadness that her family announces the passing of Angela Christina Hughes Brooks, age 47, on January 26, 2022, at her home in Catonsville, MD. Angela was born September 26, 1974 to Stephen J. Hughes, Esq., and Angela C. Atkins. Angela was the eldest of three children.

From her earliest years, she stood out as an outgoing, imaginative, artistic and hilarious person, qualities that continued to define Angela her whole life. She attended St. Agnes Elementary School and Seton Keough High School before she was accepted into one of the top five public performing arts high schools in the nation, the Baltimore School for the Arts. In 1992 she graduated with a diploma in Theater. She continued her creative pursuits at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in the double majors of English Literature and American Studies, graduating with honors.

Angela chose a career in professional editing and writing, joining the Watermark Press out of college. In 1999, Angela graduated to Cadmus Professional Communications (now Cenveo Publisher Services), assuming the responsibilities of journal production manager and senior copy editor for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. She achieved further career success in 2006 when she accepted the position of Technical Writer/Editor at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab.

In 2006, Angela met the love of her life, Gregory J. Brooks. Greg matched Angela in her love of art, music, books, and travel. A prolific artist, Greg attended the prestigious Maryland Institute College of Art, or MICA. On Cinco de Mayo 2007, Angela and Greg married under the trees in the back yard of their historic Catonsville home surrounded by family and friends.

Angela and Greg shared another bond that proved compelling—their love of cats. Both brought a trio of cats to the marriage, which they loved like their children. Angela volunteered at the Catonsville Cat Clinic to socialize abandoned kittens that were soon to attend adoption fairs. This increased the little cats’ likelihood of being selected. She volunteered to do the same for abandoned cats at the Lucky Cat Rescue, a nonprofit that cares for cats in crises. Angela also fostered abandoned cats, although she always ended up keeping them. Never were cats so loved.

Above all else though, Angela loved her siblings and her nieces and nephew, who held a precious place in her heart. Angela was so much more than an aunt to them—cheerleader, confidant and close friend.

Angela had a brilliant mind, a quick wit, and an enormous sense of generosity. She showed an amazing resilience throughout her life and always kept an open and loving heart. She was a dear and loyal friend to so many, in the truest sense of the word. She was a kind and gentle soul, and one of the loveliest people you could ever meet. Angela is loved by so many friends who became like family across decades of her life. Her capacity to find joy in the everyday, and her disposition to share that joy with those she loved will remain as her living legacy among those who were fortunate enough to be counted within that group.

Angela is survived by her sister, Sarah Pain Wagner (Jonathon) of Mt. Washington, MD; her brother, Andrew (Drew) S. Hughes of Catonsville, MD; her nephew, Aidan Hughes; her nieces, Casper Hughes, Lillian Hughes, of Catonsville, MD, and Esme Wagner of Mt. Washington, MD; her mother, Angela Atkins (Charles Wyckoff) of Ellicott City, MD; her in-laws, Joseph and Marlene Brooks of Burlington, NC; and many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who love and will miss her dearly.

Angela was predeceased by her husband, Gregory J. Brooks of Catonsville, MD; her father, Stephen J. Hughes, Esq., of Baltimore, MD; her brother-in-law, Andrew J. Pain of Oxford, England; her grandparents, Joseph F. Hughes and Lillian M. Hughes of Catonsville, MD; her grandparents George and Jennie Atkins, Glen Burnie, MD; and her uncle, P. Michael Hughes of Westminster, MD.

Family and friends are invited to a visitation at the Candle Light Funeral Home in Catonsville, MD, on Saturday, March 26th from 2:00-4:00. A memorial service will immediately follow from 4:00-4:30.

A celebration of Angela’s life will be held on May 22nd at Patapsco State Park, with more details to follow.

Friends and family can honor Angela’s legacy with a gift to the Lucky Cat Rescue in her name. 

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