Nona Lovell Brooks (1861 – 1945) was a leader in the New Thought movement and a founder of the Church of Divine Science.
A friend of Nona's older sister Althea, a Mrs. Katherine (Kate) Quiner Bingham (1849 - 1913), fell ill. She was referred by her physician to consult a specialist in Chicago and was told that an operation was required and it might take as much as a year of treatment before she could return home. A friend of hers who had taken classes with the "teacher of teachers”, Emma Curtis Hopkins, recommended that she seek her out and see if she might not be healed. Three weeks of study and treatment with Mrs. Hopkins brought Mrs. Bingham back to Pueblo in radiant good health .enthusiastic over her healing and ardent in her desire to help other people. Friends began asking her to tell them what had brought about her transformation. Informal classes in Christian Science began.
In 1887, encouraged by her sister, Althea Brooks Small, Nona Brooks attended one thses classes taught by Kate Bingham, proponent of the New Thought philosophy in which she taught what she had learned from Mrs. Hopkins. While attending these classes, Brooks "found herself healed of a persistent throat infection". It was during the fourth class that it happened. Nona's whole being was "completely flooded with a great light - a light brighter than sunlight. 'It filled me! It surrounded me! I discovered that I had been instantly and completely healed.'" Nona's remarkable healing was only the first of the changes that took place in the family. A change in outlook, other healing, a quick improvement of their financial situation further convinced them of the truth of these spiritual principles.
In 1898, Brooks was ordained by Malinda Cramer as a minister in the Church of Divine Science and founded the Denver Divine Science College.
Note: Althea Brooks Small was married to Charles Small a partner of Charles Fillmore in Real Estate until the Pueblo real estate boom collapsed.
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