Richard (Dick) Allen Wees

Richard (Dick) Allen Wees died March 31, 2015 in Medford, Oregon at the age of 84.

A Celebration of Life exhibit will be held at Ogle Park in Grants Pass, Oregon from 3:00-6:00 pm on June 20th. Friends and acquaintances are invited.

Richard, the youngest of three boys born to Milton Edward Wees and Marion Lurline Proctor, was born on June 19, 1930 in Anaheim, CA.

Dick spent his childhood in Southern California, graduating from Santa Cruz High School in 1948. In 1951-1952 he served in a medical unit in Korea. After returning home, he finished his college education, graduating from San Jose State College in 1958 with a degree in Music Education. He met and married Marvaina Fay Dean in 1953. Together they had four children and settled in Santa Rosa, California where Richard taught choir at Santa Rosa High School for fifteen years. Richard retired from his teaching position to pursue a desire to run his own music shop, but found it was not to his liking and in 1977 moved to Grants Pass, Oregon to take a position as a choir teacher at North Middle School.

Richard also conducted church choirs in California and Oregon throughout his adult life. After retiring from the Grants Pass School District in 1990, Richard continued with the community choir at Rogue Community College and the GP Chapter of Sweet Adelines for many years. In addition to music, he enjoyed art and was an avid oil painter.

Richard loved music from an early age. He was playing the fiddle by about age four and began singing in boy's choirs in elementary school. He continued to perform until his graduation from college, at which time he concentrated on teaching and conducting. Richard's passion for music and desire to teach never dimmed, and his legacy is found in the innumerable voices he influenced that are today celebrating life with song.

He is survived by his four children and their spouses; Shawn and Vicki Wees of Felton, Calif.; Joy and Duane Brown of White City, Oregon; Lynn and Harvey Hecht of Napa, Calif., and Mark and Sara Wees of Everett, Washington; eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his brothers Jack and Harold.