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Dewey Ehling, former music director for the Anchorage School District and conductor of the Anchorage Community Chorus and Anchorage Youth Symphony, died in Washington state on Aug. 7. He was 87.
Ehling was born in Abbyville, Kansas, on Dec. 14, 1928, one in a family of seven children. He earned a bachelor's degree in music education from Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, in 1950 but his teaching plans were put on hold when he saw active duty in the Korean conflict as a Marine.
Following his discharge, he lived in the San Francisco Bay area for a while, conducting orchestras and choirs and playing oboe with the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra.
He moved to Anchorage in 1968 and found work teaching music in the schools. He became director of music for ASD in 1978.
After his retirement, he moved to Port Angeles, Washington, in 1986. There he continued to teach, perform and conduct. He was the conductor of the Peninsula Singers and Port Townsend Community Orchestra for many years and participated in numerous stage and concert productions. He was involved as a conductor with Olympic Theatre Arts, the Port Angeles Light Opera Association and the Port Angeles Symphony. He also led the annual "Messiah" community sing-along in Sequim.
In 2010, the Washington Music Educators Association named him one of the outstanding educators in the Pacific Northwest.
He occasionally returned to Alaska, including an appearance in 2007 for the 60th anniversary of the Anchorage Community Chorus, now called the Anchorage Concert Chorus.
Citing longtime friends of the deceased, the Peninsula Daily News of Port Angeles reported that he died of pneumonia at the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. But an obituary composed by family members gave the place of death as Port Angeles.
A private ceremony was held on Aug. 13 and Ehling was buried in Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, Washington.
Ehling is survived by his wife, Lauretta, brother Gordon of Abbyville, daughter Deborah Gwin of Baldwin City, Kansas, and son Timothy Ehling of Seattle.