Chester Ward Brewer peacefully passes from this life in his own home on May 3rd, 2019 at the age of 96 surrounded by family. He was born in Pennsylvania on August 13, 1922 to parents Harrison and Anna Kirshner Brewer. He was raised there until the Great Depression. Chester’s parents moved to New York City where he was educated at a Mechanical Trade School. In December 1941, Chester enlisted in the Army Air Corps where he served our country proudly, flying 28 missions with the Eighth Air Force as a tail gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress. He was a decorated veteran and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1944. He married the love of his life Ann K. Hilbert, whom he met as a child while playing stickball on the streets of Manhattan and proposed in Time Square on New Years Eve 1947. They bought their first home in Neville Island, PA where he worked at a Coke and Chemical Company until moving west to Santa Barbara in 1962 to raise an ever expanding family and to secure better educational opportunities for all nine of them. Chester was the man of many talents but worked primarily in construction as a painter. He purchased a home and soon developed the property with duplexes while raising his nine children.
Chester was always known as one of the kind: opinionated, stubborn, funny, giving, hardworking, loving and strong. He was a dreamer, doer, jokester, prankster, and WWII Vet. He loved his family, cheered Dodgers and Warriors, argued with the TV, tinkered with things and cooked large meals for any and all because his doors were always open. Chester was an adventurer and a traveling man and one of the first to view the newly constructed National WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C. Chester’s war experiences were respectfully recorded at the national Museum of WWII in New Orleans. He was an honored member of the 452nd Bomb Group Association. He was preceded in death by his wife Anna K. (1982), son Eric (1970) and second wife Margaret Stuart Brewer (1994). He is survived by eight children: Bruce (Stephanie) Brewer, Carol Brewer, Barbara (Ed) Bowman, Janet Duska, Diane Brewer, Mark Brewer, Joyce Brewer, Laura (Nick) Shah as well as 13 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren, and brother Harrison M. Brewer.
Our family would like to express our profound appreciation and gratitude to the Santa Barbara Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care.
A Graveside Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, June 8, 2019 at Calvary Cemetery, 10 am with Military Honors. A reception at 1pm will follow a this home in Buellton.
On Sunday June 9, 2019, Mass will be said in his honor at the Santa Ynez Mission.
