Kvinbrwr R.I.P.

An open letter from Dawn & A few pics

Here's a post Dawn asked me to make to the AZ crew....

Hi,

I’ve attempted to write this numerous times, but it’s been challenging for me as I’m sure you can imagine. I did want to talk to you though. For starters, I wanted to thank you for beautiful and sincere condolences. It’s no small thing to me. I feel your well wishes and I thank you! I also offer you my condolences. It sounds like some of you were pretty deeply affected by this loss and I’m sorry for you too.

Your community was truly meaningful to Kevin. Looking back now, I am thinking that he probably wasn’t feeling very well for some time. He found it harder and harder to get his workouts done and maybe he spent more time nesting at home then usual. Even though he may not have been feeling very well. He was Happy! Maybe we knew that we were playing on borrowed time because the last number of years were so Damn good! I am so glad that he had your community of people to “Hang out”with even when it may have been a bit hard for him to leave his office chair.

I was so pleased to see that you all knew what was so cool about Kevin. You really hit the nail on the head. I always knew that my beloved was cool as s**t but I had no idea that EVERYONE else could see it!

I loved reading that Tate saw what great teamwork Kevin and I had. Kevin used to tell me that I was the best business partner he ever had and that we could “ham and egg it” better than anyone. To me he was an amazing life partner, business partner, mentor and self discovery partner. I met him when I was a green pea liner (aka – entry level sales person) in the car business and he taught me how to sell cars. He taught me so well that I was running dealerships within 2 years. He gave me the “tools” for selling then he convinced me that I was strong enough, brave enough and smart enough to pull it off. Who knew? I sure didn’t. I think I became a successful salesperson because every time I sold a car, I would get to deal with Kevin. He was the finance manager and all deals went through him. My entire motivation for selling cars was to get to the Finance office and see the Brew. Best of the best was to get the last deal of the day because then, once the customer went home, it was just he and I in the dealership. - Finance guy has to lock up? - I’d be happy to help! - When Kevin left the dealership a year later, it was too late – I was good at it so I figured I may as well stick with it even though there was now no Brewer bonus attached to each sale.

Auto sales was a painful industry for us so, about 10 years later, we broke free together. We didn’t know what we wanted to do to earn money so we held a meeting (at the beach) to create a mission statement. After a couple hours of honest discussion, we had our mission statement. here it is...................... “Joy First”............ That was it! From then on all decisions were easy. We’d Just ask ourselves “will this decision add to our joy or take away from our joy” and act accordingly. For us, Ebay sales was the obvious answer for our business. He did his part and I did mine we worked super-duper long hours, not many days off, but we were always pretty darn happy! Kevin liked to quote Jason Mraz with “you don’t need a vacation when there’s nothing to escape from” and that was our life – a working vacation.

You also mention that he was supportive and cool. Ding, ding, ding, you hit the target! Give the man prize! Exactly! Even when I accidentally broke an expensive piece of inventory or crashed the car, he didn’t even need to forgive - He didn’t get angry in the first place (3railkick noticed that –> not an angry dude). He went straight into comfort Duck (that’s me) mode. He was SO supportive! If I wanted to try a new thing he was always encouraging. He wanted to know all the details (even when the subject was soil!! (for my horticulture classes)) and then, he was there to praise me for my good results. My results were always good because I was addicted to his praise. From the beginning in the car business to the end in our Ebay business, I always wanted to be the best for him, to impress him. I’ve been making some pretty intense business decisions this last week. Kinda gnarley for me, because naturally, I left all that icky decision stuff to him. I heard a voice in my head say “if I make a mistake it doesn’t matter as much now, because Kevin’s not here to see it”. Which is really funny because he was so kind and understanding when I made mistakes. It wasn’t fear of his anger (not an angry guy). It wasn’t for lack of praise, he praised and thanked me all the time. It was more like flirtation for me. I wanted to Dazzle my Kevie-Wevie-Doodle-All-the-day with Previously unheard of acts of human strongatude.

Thank you Tate. You were such a good friend to him. I know he truly loved and respected you.

Sfleinen noticed that Kevin had a lot of friends. Boy oh boy is that ever true. I had no idea. This last week has been overwhelming. So many truly saddened people have shared their feelings with me. Every neighbor has a story about something funny Kevin said to them or a kindness Kevin had shown. I think, darn near every employee in every establishment we frequented for business and pleasure had a good Kevin story. So many people have been telling me of their love for Kevin. I get it! I know the kind of man he was! I just never knew so many people knew it too.

Phil dade, Pt109 noticed his wit and wisdom. That was the first thing I noticed about him too. I was so attracted to his wit and wisdom! The instant I met him in the car business. I decided that he would be My Man. It took two months of me hitting on him pretty hard to close the deal for our first date – but he was well worth the chase. And that first date was Legendary!

SJDinPHX noticed that Kevin was fair and reasonable and understood human nature. I completely agree. Kevin decided that our business policy would be returns are ok for any reason - because if both parties aren’t happy with the deal, then the deal is no fun and not worth doing. He understood that two people could see the same thing two different ways and he was cool with that. No matter how vile the customer became. His response was always the same. “I am so sorry if you are not pleased with your purchase. Please feel free to return if for a full refund. If you feel the error was ours, please let me know and we will refund the shipping both ways”. It didn’t matter who was right or wrong. What mattered was that all parties were happy in the end and that the issue was resolved quickly and graciously so we could get back to singing and laughing and feeling groovy.

Lfigueroa – I’m sure you’re right. Kevin was your friend.

8-ball Rat said “He was a genuine, helpful, sincerely great individual...with a personal character all too rare these days.” - Yep! I couldn’t agree with you more.

Classiccues said “he was always upbeat.” Totally true. He was a happy man!

Black Balled – I thought adding “good sir” was pretty darn eloquent!

PinkLady – Love to you!

Targuy – I know that Kevin really enjoyed his dealings with you. and that he considered you a good friend. Thank you for the flowers.

KoolKat9lives – Your words touch me. I’m sorry for you loss too. It sounds like you guys were fun playmates. You said Humble. That’s a word I hadn’t considered for Kevin. I think you may be right, but I’m thinking humble in the “I’m cool but it’s no big deal” kinda way.

driven – I love that! The conversations I had with him made me a better person too!

jgobigred – your Paypal comment made me lol!

ibuycues – Will! There you are! Kevin spoke so well of you.

Kickin Chicken – Thanks for the call. It is always good to hear a Kevin story.

Jay, thanks for the call. Kevin spoke so highly of you. I know he considered you a good friend.

Junksecret - Joe – No words to express how much you and your brother have kept me held together this last week! Friends like you two prove what an awesome guy Kevin was because only such an awesome guy can have such awesome friends. Thank you both to the moon and back.

Kevin was a much greater love than I ever expected life to give me. I wasn’t smug about it (maybe a little bit smug) but I knew that what we shared was the kind of relationship that so many people long for. I was always sensible of how lucky I was. I loved his face, his eyes, I loved his eye lashes, I loved his voice (I can still her him calling my name in my head.....”Duuuuuuuuck”), I loved his childishness and our play dates, I loved his mind, I loved to hear him laugh, I loved to hear him talk to the cats and I loved to witness his relationship with life. I loved it all!! It was truly heaven on earth!

Love you guys!
Really!
Duck

One more thing, If you feel like getting together to celebrate Kevin’s life, you are welcome. We will be having a casual little celebration of Kevin’s life at my sisters house in Northridge (PM Joe for more details) starting at 6:30 on Sunday, July 13th.






I'm putting together a slide show of Kevin Photos, I'll post a link when I have it together, in the meantime, here's a few....

Kev Cool
kevcool1.jpg


Kev at an auction
kevsmile.JPG


Kev & Dawn with my wife & I
DSC00498c.jpg


Hippie Kev
kevhip2.jpg


Kev & Dawn..early on....
dawn6.jpg


Kev & Dawn, always in love...
kevteo3.JPG
 
Thanks for sharing your inner thoughts and feelings as well as the pictures. I knew Kevin was special the very first time I dealt with him.

I never met Kevin but through your words I know him a little better.

Good luck and be well in the days ahead.

Jay
 
It's with great sorrow that I report to this group that Kevin Brewer, one of my best friends, a friend I made in a pool room in 1978 and counted among my best friends ever since, passed away yesterday from a sudden heart attack.

He was an amazing "one-of-a-kind" character with endless charm, wit and wisdom. Everyone he touched will miss him, few more than me.

Love ya man,

Joe

Sorry for your loss and ours as well. Life is short and friends are precious. My condolences.
 
I don't know how I missed this until now.

R.I.P. and Godspeed, my friend.

My deepest condolences to the family and friends.

Joe
 
I've been away from this forum (and pool for the most part) for a while, I had no idea Kevin passed away. He was a great guy, one of my favorite poolroom personalities. Great sense of humor and well-liked in the poolroom I worked at. Very sad to hear this. If his family is reading this, I offer my condolences. R.I.P. Kevin.
 
I've been away from this forum (and pool for the most part) for a while, I had no idea Kevin passed away. He was a great guy, one of my favorite poolroom personalities. Great sense of humor and well-liked in the poolroom I worked at. Very sad to hear this. If his family is reading this, I offer my condolences. R.I.P. Kevin.

Good to see you back, Nat - hope all is well with you. We're in the process of moving to the central coast (Pismo/ Arroyo Grande area). Still doing the same thing but working from home. I sent you a couple of PM's in the past and wondered what you were up to.

Kevin had become a good friend to me over the years and this was quite unexpected.

Chris
 
My condolences and prayers to Kevin's family and friends. I never had the pleasure of any business or discussions with Kevin but knew he was a class act. I also knew/felt if he was selling it, it was worth buying. All the way to the refund policy and the photo of your shipping manager...... All I could feel was class. Thanks for sharing.
R. I. P.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk
 
the Celebration is this weekend, right?
13th/Sunday @ sunset @ Pacific Time?

please post details, so that we can all raise a glass.

.
 
the Celebration is this weekend, right?
13th/Sunday @ sunset @ Pacific Time?

please post details, so that we can all raise a glass.

.

Hi,

I am Dawn, Kevin's wife. If you haven't heard, I am so sad to tell you that Kevin passed away suddenly 10 days ago. If you have heard, I am sorry to remind you like this.

I am sending this message to everyone in his address book and I have never met some of you, so if this correspondence seems inappropriate to you, please forgive me. I am not very technologically advanced but I have tried to hide everyone's email. I hope I got it correct. If not, I'm sorry - but not to worry, I won't send out any more mass emails like this.

If you would like to talk to me, I am willing to answer any questions you
may have. If I don't answer, leave a message and I will get back to you. I
will be disconnecting Kevin's phone in the next couple of days so here's my
number:

Dawn
(818) 317-0204

We will be having a service for him on Sunday, July 13th at 6:30 PM, in
Northridge, California. It will be an informal and casual celebration of
his life. If you would like to come, you are invited! Just email me and I
will send you an Evite. ---> duckgoog@earthlink.net

This is a very big loss for so many people. If you are one of those people, my heart goes out to you! I know first hand what a wonderful man Kevin was and how painful this loss can be.

All my love to you,

Dawn
 
we will be raising a glass w/ yáll, in 20mins....

Dawn, Joe, Chris, et al: here are a few PMs that i've received from other special AZers, so that we, who are not there, are with yáll tonight:

- Allow the love of others to lift you in this time of grief.

The news brings much sadness and is never easy. Allow yourself time to grieve, tears can heal the soul, may you find comfort in loving memories.

There are many AZers that have met him and made great friends like we've known each other our whole lives, talked and text table talk and life in general.

You have many lines open to you as the same you've always done for us. A listening ear and a kind voice is just a phone call away.

- you'll have so much to catch up on when you meet again.

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc-yHSfwLNo (song)

Cheers Kitty!

PL <---- on Balboa's pier, drinking of you. (but if those gloves could talk!)
:ignore:
 
I miss my pal Kevin's wit and humor here.

I, too, have a glass raised in his honor, right now.

Cheers to all of his friends and loved ones

RIP Kevin.

best,
brian kc --- in a cashmere clearcoat.
 
It was a very nice gathering. To Dawn, Kim, Curtis, Mike, Joe , Dan and many others who contributed to the memorial, thank you for the fond memories and stories!

It was obvious that Kevin touched each of us deeply in different ways. One person after another attested that Kevin made them feel better about themselves and was able to cheer them up in their bad times. Kevin was always up! Many of the people in attendance did not know each other, but we felt a major bond between us. It was a very special evening.

Dawn, thank you for the special gift too. It is one of the nicest gifts I've ever received and I will remember you and Kevin for as long as I live.

Chris
 
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Thanks to everyone for the outpouring for Kevin, he was clearly loved and will be widely missed.

As Chris posted above, there was a gathering celebrating Kevin's life on Sunday and it was a very special time for all in attendance.

I put together a video of images from Kevin's computer, my computer and scans of some printed images, set to a few songs Kevin was fond of. For any that would like to see it, it can be downloaded HERE.

Thanks again, be well.

Joe
 
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Thanks to everyone for the outpouring for Kevin, he was clearly loved and will be widely missed.

As Chris posted above, there was a gathering celebrating Kevin's life on Sunday and it was a very special time for all in attendance.

I put together a video of images from Kevin's computer, my computer and scans of some printed images, set to a few songs Kevin was fond of. For any that would like to see it, it can be downloaded HERE.

Thanks again, be well.

Joe

Great tribute
 
I haven't logged in in quite some time, but didn't expect to see this. Kevin was a good guy.
 
R.I.P. Mr. Brewer

Just checking in after a long time away and see that kvnbrwr is gone. Very sad. I enjoyed his posts and talking cues with him.

Condolences to Dawn and all of his friends and family.

Mike
 
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