By Paul Graves
Ron Evans (editor of The Comet) asked me if I could write a tribute to a fellow musician and good friend Dean DeWees who just recently passed away. First I want to thank Ron for thinking of him.
Dean DeWees was born August 9th, 1937 in Creston, Iowa and was given the name Homer Dean DeWees, but he went by Dean his whole life. His parents, Myrtle and Chester, were musicians and even appeared with the Barnum and Bailey Circus and the Lenard Players. When the Great Depression came along they moved to Wenatchee to work in the orchards, and later to Hoquiam. There, Chester managed the beautiful 7th Street Theatre from 1942 until 1959. Dean and his brother Ray would often stay in the theater overnight - many famous musicians played there over the years.
In 1942, when he was 5 years old, Dean broke his arm - leading to an infection of gangrene that resulted in him losing the arm just below the elbow. His dad, being a trumpet player, taught Dean how to play the trumpet and he spent the next 25 years playing for a living. He performed on the Ted Mack show, Lawrence Welk, and sat in with the The Ink Spots, Eddie Peabody and many others.
Dean was 12 years old when he first heard Harry James play and he knew then that someday he would play like him (or somewhere close). He eventually met Harry and he gave Dean good advice with just one word “Practice.” When Dean was in high school he heard about a guy named Louis Armstong that was playing in Olympia at the Evergreen Ballroom so Dean and his brother hitchhiked from Hoquiam to hear him play. After the show Dean got a chance to talk to Louis and he even got to play Louis’ trumpet. Louis told Dean he had good chops! Wow, what a night. Dean also met Rafael Méndez, billed as the World’s Greatest Trumpet Virtuoso who had played many times for the Mexican bandit Pancho Villa. At 17, Dean covered a song by Perez Prado’s band called “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White.” He played it so well that he was asked to appear on the Ted Mack TV show, a variety music show a lot like today’s America’s Got Talent or The Voice. Dean won it and appeared five more times on the show. In 1964 Dean got a job with the Gara Jerva Quartet and played five years backing up big name performers. He met John Wayne at Ocean Shores while he was making his movie called McQ.
In 1958 Dean had a 7-piece band called The Rain Drops and they were booked all summer at the Grayland Grange Hall - his trombone player wanted Dean to go with him to LA to study music at the Westlake School. So they made the adventurous trip and at school one day his instructor heard him play a song called “Skylark.” He was very impressed so he gave Dean and his friend tickets to the Lawrence Welk TV Show. During the show filming, Dean ended up jumping up on stage near Lawrence and he told Dean to get his trumpet (it was back at the hotel). When he came back he was told to wait down in the front seats next to Alice Lon (Champagne Lady). But later, Dean had his chance to sit in and everyone, including Lawrence, were very impressed. Dean was too young to be in the youth band, being 21 by this time, but Lawrence later said he could use Dean somewhere in his band - but sadly he did not have Dean’s contact info, but what an experience it was.
Dean was married briefly in 1968 and shortly after his divorce he was allowed to stay at his brother-in-law’s place at a ranch on Ingalls Creek off the Old Blewett Highway. He even acquired an old packing mule he named Mr. Beesly that took a liking to Dean.
Then, something dramatic happened in January of 1976 - something that would change his life. It was a cold snowy night and he was with his cousin Dave - at the time he got his power from an electric old-timey Pelton wheel driven by a hundred-foot waterfall fed through a large metal pipe. The wheel had frozen up this night so they were using lanterns when all of a sudden his four dogs started barking and growling and they wanted out. He let them out but it was not long that all four dogs came running back into the cabin and cowered in one corner. Dave grabbed a shotgun and went out saying something was getting into the chicken coop. Dean went out with a flashlight and first saw five dead chickens laying side by side with beaks all pointing in the same direction - then he saw his cousin down on one knee pointing the shotgun at a huge creature. It was a sasquatch. Eight to nine feet tall with a dark V-shape pattern from its shoulders and down its back. Dave shot at the creature from a couple feet away and it did not faze the thing, it just casually walked away with a slow human-like gait. Then, they watched it jump over a 15 foot creek... They went back in to get more ammo and when they came back out, 4 of the 5 chickens were gone.
A few nights later the creature returned and ripped open and killed one of their pigs. Dean took photos of the 16 inch footprints it left and he carved the likeness of the creature into a shadow box he made. This was gifted to me in Dean’s will (pictured here). A few years later, 1/4 mile from the Valley Hi store a doctor almost hit a sasquatch as it limped in front of his car - placing his hand on his car hood. He stopped at the store and learned of Dean’s sighting, and there he saw Dean’s sculpture and said that is what he had seen.
So fast forward some years later to the late 90’s or early 2000’s when I met Dean. I have been interested in investigating and researching the bigfoot subject since 1988 and I had heard about Dean’s encounter. So one day I drove up to Valley Hi and tried to find where Dean lived. I saw the name Brender on the top of a cabin, the story I heard was supposed to have happened at Brender Pig Farm. So I knocked on the door and Dean answered. I told him who I was and we got to chatting. He said the sasquatch story had always been written up wrong with it saying many people were there and that they all shot at it and tracked it into the mountains. That’s when Dean told me the whole story to set the record straight. Since then I have helped Dean get his story out there and it has been featured on two episodes of History Channel’s Monster Quest, a movie called Sasquatch Odyssey and a book called Bigfoot Casebook.
I also realized at this time that Dean was a musician. I had been playing guitar since I was 12 years old, so I eventually brought my guitar up and we played a few tunes. His oldest brother Ray (who was an amazing piano player in his own right) and his younger brother Roger who played drums joined us and we decided to form a band. We soon realized we needed a bass player so I contacted my friend Bill Allyn and that completed our lineup. We called our band Cabin Fever and played from 2006 to 2011 when Ray passed away (he was not replaceable). Ray could play “Flight of the Bumblebee” as good or better than the guy that wrote it. But we got to play Apple Blossom and Ohme Gardens among others. We also recorded two albums worth of music at Ingalls Creek Enrichment Center up the road from Dean thanks to Alan Walter. Dean taught me a lot about music and phrasing that I applied to my guitar playing. I really miss playing music with him. Over the years Dean was kinda known as the “Mayor of Valley Hi” and his cabin (originally the last stop gas station before going over the old pass) was along the old highway and many people would stop by and talk with Dean. He put out a couple small booklets and made many of our band’s CD’s and he sold over 700 of them. He had a one of a kind place with a lot of his art hanging on his walls.
Music was his life and many of Dean’s gigs are written up in his autobiography called A Man And His Horn - A Journey In The Life Of A Musician. Dean was a tough old bird, he only had one full arm and a stump for the other arm, yet he lived in his cabin with no running water (he got it from a creek that ran beside his cabin, in the middle of winter he would have to break the ice to get his water for all his water needs with just one arm).
I am going to miss the sound of his trumpet echoing through the hills and mountains that surrounded his cabin. Thankfully, we have recordings that will live on forever.
Rest well my friend.
