Molly Anne Brooks

May 1, 1946 -

May 26, 2020

Captain Molly Brooks, 74, died on May 26, 2020, at home in Port Townsend, Wash., in the company of close friends, following a brief but intense battle with liver cancer. A trendsetter, "Captain Molly" as many of her Alaska friends called her, was one of the first female tour boat captains in the Alaska tourism industry.

Molly's maritime career began in the late '80s as a deckhand for Pete and Sue Hanke on the Red Head in Puget Sound. She spent many years in Alaska, sometimes seasonally and sometimes year-round, working for the Hankes, NOAA, Allen Marine, Four Seasons Marine, Chilkat Cruises and the Haines Skagway Fast Ferry. She earned her captain's license in the late '90s.

Mary Tougas of Major Marine Tours in Seward said "Molly was a real roll up your sleeves sort of Captain who could rise to any challenge. During the winter when the boats were not running, she completely re-upholstered the seats in the boats."

Keith Barsch worked as a mechanic with her on the Fast Ferry and said she had a profound influence on him, from her stories of the years she spent working in the early Texas music scene to her seamanship, but mostly in the way she treated others with good humor and kindness. "If she wanted you to do something you did it — not because she told you to, but because you wanted to do it for her, you respected her." She was quiet and calm at the helm, but liked to have fun, too. Once, when they were stuck with a boat in Sitka on an Easter Sunday, she made the crew a holiday brunch from vending machine fare and then had them dress up in Tyvek suits with cardboard bunny ears and she produced plastic eggs for a hunt.

"I can't express how cool Molly was. She was one of those people who leave a big imprint," Keith Barsch said.

She retired from the Alaska tour boat business in 2011, returning to the Port Townsend area where she was a valued volunteer for the Centrum Foundation and an enthusiastic appreciator of music and art.

Memorial donations may be made to your local animal rescue center and arts council.