Tin Keenan | The Michigan Catholic

President of Arbor Hospice, CBS Radio program director lavish praise on AOD alma maters

DETROIT — Most of us know about the outstanding athletic graduates of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Detroit. Austin’s Dave Debusschere went on to a stellar NBA career. Braylon Edwards of Bishop Gallagher was a University of Michigan Wolverine standout before moving to the NFL. Catholic Central’s Frank Tanana eventually pitched for the hometown Tigers.

But many other graduates of local Catholic institutions have distinguished themselves in various walks of life, not the least of whom is Anchorville Immaculate Conception’s own Archbishop Allen Vigneron. Others are St. Hugo of the Hills and Marian High School’s Gloria Danna Brooks and Allen Park Cabrini’s Tim Roberts.

Brooks is president and CEO of Arbor Hospice, a community-based nonprofit with branches in Ann Arbor, Woodhaven, Plymouth and Monroe that helps more than 1,500 patients and their families live with terminal illnesses each year. She’s also a member of the Marian Board of Directors and has leadership roles in various business and civic organizations.

After graduating from Marian in 1982, Brooks earned a Bachelor of Science in Art Therapy from the University of Evansville (Indiana) and a Master of Public Administration degree from Oakland University. But she credits much of her academic and business success to her Catholic education.

“I now recognize how important my years at Marian were to my development as an adult,” Brooks said. “The first recognition was my freshman year in college when my English class was nearly an identical repeat of my senior English class at Marian. I was ahead of other students.”

She also says the “teachings of Jesus that we learned in religion classes, particularly with Sr. Moni McIntyre,” played an important role in getting her through the rough patches in life.

“They’ve helped me weather many storms, both personally and professionally, and I can directly trace that back to my years at Marian,” she said.

“I started to develop confidence in myself during my high school years, and that has been an asset throughout my career,” she said, adding that she still keeps in contact with several high school friends who “have been constants in my life.”

“I also learned how to challenge myself with a ‘what would Jesus do’ perspective in all interactions,” she said. “I don’t always live up to that standard, but it is a calming presence in my life, and offers continuous learning opportunities.”

CBS Radio Detroit’s Tim Roberts graduated from Cabrini in 1978 and went on to Central Michigan University, where he studied broadcast in cinema arts and journalism. He has worked on the air and in management at radio stations from coast to coast. Roberts was also Midwest regional operations manager for 24 Cumulus Media radio stations before joining CBS Radio Detroit seven years ago.

“I remember my Cabrini experience vividly,” Roberts said. “The values that were taught, the character that was talked about, and the great friendships that I made there remain today with my classmates who I still see regularly.

“It was spectacular preparation for college and beyond,” he said, adding that both Cabrini’s elementary and high schools played a large role in developing his writing skills.

Like Brooks, Roberts credits his Catholic school background for much of his success.

“I received a very good all-around education including building, most importantly, my faith in God, my religion, the value of family, the power of charity and working with the community,” he said. “These skills have helped me over and over adapt to a lot of different situations and to manage people and hopefully, treat them fairly.”

Like Debusschere, Edwards and Tanana, Roberts was a Catholic League athlete during his years at Cabrini in football, baseball, basketball and cross country. While he didn’t forge a career on the court or the field, athletic competition and other extracurricular activities played a role in his development.

And he said it was an extracurricular activity at Cabrini that may have helped launch his current career.

“I also was involved in some theater and talent show productions as an ‘audio’ guy, which obviously was kind of a foundation building block for what I do today,” Roberts said. “There were so many opportunities for involvement in fun and exciting stuff. We even made a really bad movie version of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ in eighth grade, which we all still laugh about today.

“But it was an absolute blast when we did it.”