Looking Back on the August 13, 2023, Celebration of Life for Brian Miller
(Thanks to Gary Cregan with input from Michael Schwartz and Dean Rust for this report. YeEd.)
More than a dozen Harmonizers met at the Dubliner Pub on Sunday, August 13, 2023, along with a few dozen other friends of Brian Miller’s to celebrate Brian’s life. Brian was a longtime barbershopper, and had been singing in the Harmonizers for many years before his untimely death from complications related to COVID-19 in April 2020. Brian’s good friends August “Augie” Martin and Christine Faltz Grassman organized this event, and chose this day because it was Brian’s birthday. The event was also live-streamed on Facebook, and now available on YouTube (https://youtu.be/Mv7713CkPhg).
The event started at 2 pm, with Christine and Augie giving some info about how the event would flow and housekeeping information. Augie introduced a recorded video message from Richard and Helen Miller, Brian’s father and step-mother. Athena Schritz, another great friend of Brian’s, was kind enough to describe the video for those in attendance with low vision. They then played a recording of Brian singing “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile.” The Harmonizers in attendance recognized it as one of Brian’s recordings for feedback in early 2020.
The hosts then paused for a time to allow everyone to get some food from the buffet. All of the food was well received - there was very little left at the end of the celebration.
After everyone got settled back into their seats, the festivities continued, beginning with a video recording from Jane McGinnis, Brian’s mother, who read the journal entry from his last birthday in August 2019, from Edinburgh, Scotland. Athena did a great job once again of describing the many photos from the video for the audience. This trip was in conjunction with the Harmonizer’s trip to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Brian’s mother concluded her remarks with a poem from “Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim” by Edward Hayes.
Next on the program was a poem Christine wrote shortly after Brian had passed away. Her moving tribute to Brian left the room without a dry eye.
The Harmonizers VLQ was the next feature in the program. Representatives from the Harmonizers included Mike Schwartz (a friend of Brian’s since college), Troy Hillier, Dean Rust, Brian Ammerman, Aaron Simoneau, Frank Fedarko, Steve White, Calvin Schnure, Kellen Hertz, David Breen, Ken Rub, Craig Kujawa, and Gary Cregan. The songs planned originally were "Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “I’ll Be Seeing You.” However, after hearing Brian perform Never Fully Dressed, the group decided to also perform that song first. With introductions from Mike, the VLQ did a superb job sans director on each song, and the audience was clearly moved.
After the Harmonizers concluded, Athena Schritz delivered a eulogy for Brian. Her moving tribute to Brian was superb. After the eulogy, Augie kicked off a series of Brian Miller trivia questions. There were about a dozen questions in total, and the winner got a drink on Augie. After a few questions, Augie played a video of Brian singing Danny Boy. This beautiful performance was from the funeral for Brian’s grandmother.
The official program finished with more trivia questions, which turned into a runaway victory for Nikki, one of Brian’s coworkers.
Finally, Augie turned the afternoon over to the guests to tell their own stories and memories of Brian. Many people gave interesting and funny stories of their adventures with Brian, including Harmonizers Calvin, Mike, and Dean.
The celebration concluded at around 4pm, and everyone left with great memories of Brian, and feeling richer for having participated in this event, for getting to meet other Brian Miller fans, and most of all, for having had the honor of knowing Brian.
Until next time – editorjack!
(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record for the great things going on each week during the 75th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)
The Chapter Mission Statement Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.
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