Sebert Brewer
Sebert Brewer Jr. died on July 31, 2017, at Eastern Maine Medical Center with his wife Barrett and his daughters Rachael and Nell, at his side.
He called Gila, N.M. and Deer Isle, Maine home.
Born in Chattanooga, Tenn., on
Aug. 20, 1940, he was the son of Frederick Sebert and Sara Catherine (Stephenson) Brewer, who imbued in
him civic and political responsibility. He
attended The Bright School, Baylor
School, and the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill before serving in
the U.S. Navy as a 1st class torpedo
man on the USS Bridget, a destroyer
escort, prior to the Vietnam War. He
completed executive education programs at Purdue University and
Harvard Business School. He liked to
say that he found his wife, Barrett, at
the bottom of the Grand Canyon in
1972. They were married in 1974.
While escaping the late summer heat
in Chattanooga, Tenn., in 1975, Deer Isle
captivated Sebert and Barrett, and the
Island never let go. They spent every
subsequent summer on the island, instilling a love of place in two sets of children. They adopted their two
Korean daughters, Rachael Martin
Brewer and Nell Barrett Brewer in
1986. Deer Isle became their permanent residence in 1992. In 2000, they began spending winters in New Mexico. Five years later, they built a
house in Gila, a community as remarkable as Deer Isle was in 1975. Sebert and Barrett often said to each
other, “If you’re not living on the edge,
you’re taking up too much room.”
Sebert joined his father in a lifelong
career in the Coca-Cola business and
shared his father’s love for that
business. He first worked at The
Chattanooga Coca-Cola Bottling Co. on
the soaker line, eventually holding
almost every job in the plant. He was
Vice-President of Marketing for The
Coca-Cola Bottling Company (Thomas)
Inc. in Chattanooga and later ran the
family-owned bottling franchise in
Meadville, Pa., from 1978 to 1987 with
his wife. He served on the Board of Directors of the Miami Coca-Cola
Bottling Co. until his replacement by
Moshe Dayan and was elected to the Marketing Committee for Coca-Cola
Bottlers’ Association.
Sebert demonstrated his passion for
philanthropy, which he deemed an art, and his commitment to community by giving a hand to all the communities he lived in and loved: Chattanooga, Tenn.;
Meadville, Pa.; Deer Isle, Maine; and Gila,
N.M. He consistently did things for the
right motivation rather than the wrong
motivation, always striving to do the
next right thing. He was fond of saying, “It is amazing what you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.”
In 1977, Sebert inherited the position
of Trustee of the Benwood Foundation
Inc. in Chattanooga, Tenn., from his
father, a founding Trustee. Benwood
became his passion. Funded by George
Hunter and the proceeds of the sale of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company
(Thomas) Inc. to the Coca-Cola Company, Benwood is a private
charitable foundation. Sebert felt his
duty was to insure that the donor intent of George Hunter (Uncle George) was followed. His Trusteeship of Benwood was an honored
responsibility that Sebert embraced for almost forty years (1977-2015). He was
the longest-serving Trustee and was
elected Trustee Emeritus in 2016. While living in Chattanooga, he served
on the Chattanooga Symphony Association Board and the Hunter
Museum of Art, and as a Trustee of
Erlanger Hospital, among many other
board positions.
Living his passion in each community,
Sebert established the Sally Brewer
Scholarship Fund with the Chattanooga
Symphony Association as well as a scholarship for Economics Majors at
Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., in
honor of his father. He founded the
Island Education Foundation on Deer
Isle in 1994. That same year, he began
the Deer Isle-Stonington High School Girls’ Soccer Program and coached for four subsequent years. He was chair of
the Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School Building Committee during the construction of the new K-8 elementary school. He devoted
countless hours to site selection,
construction detail, and was vital in
raising funds to build the Reach
Performing Arts Center. The Reach transformed the Island. In New Mexico, he founded Grant
County Community Foundation in
2012. He helped sustain the back pack
program, Alimento para el Nino, and the Gila Valley Mobile Food
Pantry. His mother, Sally, inculcated in
him an eternal zeal for orchestral
music. He enjoyed season tickets to
the Chattanooga Symphony and drove
hours in the snow to hear the Cleveland Symphony and the Bangor Symphony. Most recently, he was
supporter of the Las Cruces Symphony
Orchestra, which he called a “damn
good little band”. From whistling
Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto on the
bridge of the Bridget to underwriting,
via the Grant County Community
Foundation, run-out performances of
the Las Cruces Symphony in Silver City for five years, he sought to share his
ear for the symphony with everyone.
His wife of 43-years Barrett, continues
their mutual commitment to
philanthropy and community along
with their daughters, Rachael Brewer
Ayers and Nell Barrett Brewer, grandchildren, Gia Nicolas Ayers, Ryan Alejandra Ayers and Davindra Brewer
Bhatt and sons-in-law, Timothy James Ayers and Dr. Skand Dushyant Bhatt.
Sebert‘s legacy includes four children
from a previous marriage: Hadley
Brewer Taylor, Courtney Brewer
Newcomb, Kendall Vail, Frederick Sebert Brewer III, and eight
grandchildren.
According to Sebert’s written wishes
for “no hullabaloo,” there will be no
formal memorial service at this time. Barrett has established a designated fund in his name with the Grant
County Community Foundation. The
purpose of this fund is to address
unanticipated needs and unusual
opportunities in the frontier communities of the Gila Valley (NM).
Memorial donations should be directed to: The Grant County Community
Foundation, P.O. Box 1767, Silver City, NM 88062.
Published August 11, 2017