JUBILEES : FLYING HIGH FOR 50 YEARS.

The golden anniversary of Hal and Virginia Brooks of Woodland Hills was celebrated with a dinner-dance at the Warner Center Marriott Hotel in Woodland Hills. It was hosted by their daughters - Vicki Merson of Westminster and Candee Brooks of Orange - with 60 friends and family members dancing to a four-piece band.

Virginia was born in Hollywood, graduated from John Marshall High School and was a fashion model. She met Hal, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps when he was transferred, along with other officers, from Wright Field in Ohio to Los Angeles. Virginia became their secretary.

On their first date, Hal rented a Piper Cub and took her for her first airplane ride. They were married in a military wedding ceremony six months later.

The couple purchased their first home in 1950 in Encino and have been living in Woodland Hills since 1970.

Hal, born in Bellingham, Wash., is a retired Air Force colonel. In 1987, he retired from Lockheed Aircraft Corp. in Burbank after working in management there for 21 years. Since then, he has volunteered delivering meals to homebound seniors for the Organization for the Needs of the Elderly.

Virginia retired as an executive assistant in the motion picture and television industry in 1972 and is a past queen of Job's Daughters Bethel No. 11 in Los Angeles.

The Brookses, who have two granddaughters and one great-granddaughter, love to travel and have been on 12 different cruises in the past 20 years.

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Photo: Hal and Virginia Brooks