Sequim resident O. David Brewer was remembered by people who worked with him as a kind man with an amazing voice that a reviewer once compared to an entire Greek chorus.

Brewer, 74, died Friday, July 31, at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle from multiple brain hemorrhages.

A memorial service is set for noon Friday, Aug. 7, at Dungeness Valley Lutheran Church, 925 N. Sequim Ave. A reception will follow.

Brewer was a vocalist and voice teacher who ran a music store for nearly two decades. He moved from Seattle to Port Angeles in 1972 and to Sequim in 2003.

He performed as a guest baritone soloist with the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra and sang lead roles in Port Angeles Light Opera Association productions.

He also was a soloist with the Peninsula Chamber Singers and sang with the Peninsula Men’s Gospel Singers.

"Dave had one of the best baritone voices I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with," said Dewey Ehling, director of Peninsula Chamber Singers and conductor for the Port Townsend Community Orchestra.

"I conducted ‘The Fantasticks,’ and he was that character El Gallo in the Old Howard Wood Theater and he was spectacular.

"Dave was always a pleasure to work with. He also sang the "Messiah" in

Sequim for several years. The last time he sang ‘The Trumpet Shall Sound.’ He just did a superb job.

Brewer and his wife, Penny, owned and operated Angeles Music from 1980-1999. The store in downtown Port Angeles specialized in musical instruments, recordings and sheet music.

KONP radio station manager Todd Ortloff worked with Brewer at the store part time in the mid-1980s and also remembers his eight years of radio work at both KONP and KAPY.

"He had a tremendous gift, a voice that was just beautiful," Ortloff said.

"He always had a great set of pipes and did great work on the radio. I worked at KAPY soon after – a year or two after – he left there. He had a big following and a big following at KONP as well."

The Port Angeles Light Opera Association hosted Brewer as a guest soloist and in other singing roles.

He appeared in Port Angeles Light Opera Association productions of "Pinafore," "Mikado," "Music Man," "Pirates of Penzance," "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Little Mary Sunshine."

In an October 1991 review, Phyllis Miletich wrote, "He was a whole Greek chorus, reining in a voice that could have filled downtown

Sequim."

Brewer also acted in plays and musicals with the Port Angeles Community Players and Sequim’s Olympic Theatre Arts.

For the past nine years, Brewer gave classical voice lessons to students across the North Olympic Peninsula.

Brewer served on the Port Angeles Symphony’s board of directors, serving as president, as well as the North Olympic Crime Stoppers; Carlsborg Community Advisory Board; Port Angeles Law Enforcement Advisory Board; North Olympic chapter of the Emergency Radio Council; and the Ben and Myrtle Walkling Endowment Fund.

He is survived by his wife; their children Carol Brewer of Friday Harbor, Marcia Lewis of Sequim, Catherine Brewer of Orcas Island, Wendy Curtis of Kent, Mark Brewer of Saratoga, Calif., Shelley Marengo of Covington, La., and Christine Basden of Gainesville, Ga.; 15 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Drennan-Ford Funeral Home of Port Angeles is in charge of arrangements.

Reach Brian Gawley at bgawley@sequimgazette.com.