As head judge of the national spelling bee, Mary Brooks rings the fateful bell whenever a contestant misspells a word. Photo: Craig Hudson / Scripps National Spelling Bee Writer: Jane Burns If you have to have someone deliver bad news, you could do a heck of a lot worse than Mary Brooks. Just ask an y of the thousands of kids she’s had to politely dismiss, or the millions watching on TV. Mary Brooks. Photo: Duane Tinkey Brooks, who lives in West Des Moines, is the head judge of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Yes, she rings the bell. And yes, she tells contestants they’re out. But she does it with such encouragement, you almost want her to come over to your house and give you a little pep talk when you’re having a bad day. They’re called “Mary’s moments,” and in the time between a speller hearing the bell and walking off the stage, Brooks highlights the accomplishments that brought them to that dramatic moment so they leave the stage with their head held high. “It was always such an awkward moment [after the bell],” said Brooks, who has been part of the bee since 1972. “I don’t want that attention, but I do want the speller to have that moment of hearing something personal and positive that they can remember.” Brooks has had a multitude of moments at the bee, now entering its second century of nail-biting drama. She is part of the “Bee Team,” which includes other judges and the pronouncer, James Bailly, the 1980 national champion. All judges carry the same weight and responsibility, but as head judge, it’s Brooks who rings the bell. “We’re not supposed to be scary people,” she said. “We tell them, ‘We’re all on your side. Your only foe is the dictionary.’ We all want them to succeed.” Brooks has earned her spot as the queen bee, with decades of dedication to the event and to teaching and supporting young people. The Decorah native and Drake alum had a long teaching career, primarily at Indian Hills Junior High in Clive. She also serves on the board of the West Des Moines Public Library. Her long association with the bee came through a family connection. Her uncle, James H. Wagner, worked for what was then Scripps-Howard Newspapers and directed the bee from 1960 to 1984. “He knew I wanted to go into teaching, and he just simply said, ‘Would you like to come to Washington for a week to work at the bee for me?’” Brooks said. One week turned into 54 years. She started by accompanying students on tours, herding them on and off stage and serving as an auxiliary judge, which basically meant tracking the words in the dictionary in case any questions popped up. (That job is long gone; judges now have the internet at their fingertips.) She moved up from there, first as co-director and a judge for a few years after her uncle retired, and then as head judge in 2005. Over the years she had observed how to be the head judge, certainly, but also how to approach the job with empathy. With a career as a junior high teacher, she knows how to manage the cavalcade of feelings that can overwhelm kids that age. Her empathy includes “Mary’s moments,” which have given her a spotlight she never would have imagined when she began working for her uncle. She started raining praise on the spellers to fill a gap when the bee was virtual during the pandemic and continued when the spellers returned in person. “I had a teacher who wrote a wonderful note to me afterward saying how important it is for kids, even in moments of what feels like a failure or a loss, to have the dignity of being told how good they are and how proud people are of them,” Brooks said. She never sought the extra attention, but she’s not shy about her claim to fame, either. Each year as the big event nears, she’ll pull out her Christmas tree from storage and decorate it with bees. She dons bee jewelry and owns bee socks, bee shoes and bee purses. At home, she has bee casseroles, bee aprons, a bee bathrobe and even bee wallpaper in the spare bathroom. This year’s bee brings a few changes, including a move to the historic DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., and — thanks to new local sponsorship from Living History Farms — the first Central Iowa contender in years. Caleb DeVan, an eighth-grader from Southview Middle School in Ankeny, won the March 7 regional bee and will advance to the nationals. Those developments, and the excitement of the participants and their families, are the only certainties Brooks can predict about this year’s event, even after five decades of experience. “The spelling bee is the best reality TV out there,” she said. “It’s totally unscripted. What happens, and how it happens, that’s how it is.” And for 101 years, that has spelled success. Trickey wurds People are haunted by all sorts of things — ghosts, evil clowns, mistakes of the past. And some people are haunted by something as simple as a word. Spelling bee contenders tend to remember the words that tripped them up, even years and decades later. Just ask them, like we did. “I was 9 or 10 and got bounced because of colonel. Not something I am proud of, but I never misspelled it again.” — Kendall Dillon, vice president of marketing and communications, Grand View University “I was a part of ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ and got out on the word chinchilla. Then two years later I won ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ with weltanschauung.” — Derek Phelps, volunteer and production coordinator, Des Moines Playhouse “I got bounced in the fifth grade at the county level with embarrass. I missed the second ‘r.’ It absolutely haunts me.” — Kelly Bruhn, professor of public relations and associate dean, Drake School of Journalism and Mass Communication “It’s liaison, which even now I had to really stop and think about how to spell. It does haunt me!” — Traci Glass, director, West Des Moines Public Library “I was just two spots away from being one of the final six, which meant I got to advance, but I missed the word epitomize.” — Kevin Cox, deputy editor, the Stelter Company “Sixth grade. Made it to the all-school spelling bee. First word: celebrity. I knew how to spell it. But I said ‘s’ instead of ‘c.’ Didn’t even realize I had done it — was shocked to hear the bell ding. Someone else had to tell me what I’d said. First speller down. Still stings.” — Elizabeth Keest Sedrel, director of marketing and communications, Living History Farms “One year I remember getting stumped by the silent ‘m’ in mnemonic. Ironically, that has served as a very effective mnemonic device to ensure I never again forget that particular spelling.” — Tim Hickman, principal, Substance Architecture “Circumference. Darn circles keep you spinning!” — Allison Pohlman, women’s basketball coach, Drake University Iowa Champions (and their winning word) 1930: Helen Jensen, Council Bluffs Albumen 1932: Dorothy Greenwalk, Muscatine Invulnerable 1936: Jean Trowbridge, Stuart Eczema 1946: John McKinney, Woodbine Semaphore Bell-ieve it or not Mary Brooks’ spelling-bee bell might be America’s most famous bell, after the Liberty Bell, Alexander Graham Bell and Kristen Bell. She rings it whenever someone misses a word at the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. It’s an antique, possibly dating to the Civil War, and its tone is more mellifluous than the typical model you’d find on a reception desk. She keeps it in a safe at home. The one time Brooks couldn’t attend the bee, she regretted not sending the bell. “I think they missed the bell more than they missed me,” she said. “The sound of that little OfficeMax bell just didn’t cut it.” It’s not just the sound that makes it special. It’s the backstory. In 1998, when Brooks’ mother-in-law died, Brooks and her husband, Robert, cleaned out her house in Milan, Illinois. In the back of the curio cabinet, hiding behind other things, was an old, tarnished, gold-colored bell. “It was just one of those moments,” Brooks said. “Why was it there? And why hadn’t she said anything about it? We didn’t have any history of how she got it, but the history is engraved in the bell.” The bell has four dates, so small and worn they almost require a magnifying glass to read clearly. August 25, 1863. August 8, 1868. April 8, 1870. February 8, 1874. “What did that signify? Was it somebody’s milestones in their life?” she wondered. “We’ll never know, but it sure adds to the story of why I have it and how it’s being used now.” Brooks has never gotten it appraised, on “Antiques Road Show” or anywhere else. For now, it’s just “the spelling-bee bell,” which has a nice ring to it. The Scripps National Spelling Bee is set for May 26-28 in Washington, D.C. The national TV broadcasts recently moved from ESPN to ION and can be streamed live at spellingbee.com. Staff writer and copy editor Jane Burns missed the word “roommate” in her school spelling bee in sixth grade but redeemed herself by winning a bee at the Drake University School of Journalism and Mass Communication during her junior year. She also runs an adult spelling bee every winter in her hometown of Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. ...read more read less