One of the 18 victims in last week’s mass shooting in Lewiston was a 2001 graduate of Westbrook High School.
Peyton Brewer-Ross, 40, was killed Oct. 25 while playing in a cornhole tournament at Schemengees Bar and Grill.
Brewer-Ross
Westbrook teacher Mike Haines this week remembered Brewer-Ross as a jovial student who was “upbeat all the time.”
“He always kept people smiling,” Haines said.
Ralph Brewer of Maryland said in media interviews that his brother was a character who loved to laugh and had no enemies. He was an avid cornhole player and had been teaching his 2-year-old daughter how to play.
“He was doing something he loved when he was taken way too young,” Brewer said on social media.
In high school, Brewer-Ross was a member of the wrestling team.
“We hung together in the weight room,” Haines said, adding that Brewer-Ross was slightly built but “tough and strong.”
He also liked pro wrestling and talked about Hulk Hogan a lot, Haines said. His fondness for the entertaining side of wrestling persisted into adulthood and he often quoted pro wrestler “Macho Man” Randy Savage, according to a report in the Times Record.
Haines said it seemed as though Brewer-Ross, who had worked for the past five years as a pipefitter at Bath Iron Works, was just coming into his own when he lost his life. “He was a late bloomer,” he said.
Brewer-Ross was a member of Machinists Union Local S6, which represents about 4,250 of the shipyard’s 6,500 workers.
Devin Ragnar, spokesperson for Local S6, said Brewer-Ross was an upstanding union member, citizen and human being.
“He was caring, compassionate and really funny,” Ragnar told the Times Record.
Ralph Brewer said his brother was about to purchase his first home for his family.
Brewer-Ross is survived by his fiancee, Rachael Marie Sloat and their daughter, Elle, four brothers and a sister.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4, at the American Legion hall in Boothbay.
A GoFundMe account has raised $87,750 for funeral expenses and for Brewer-Ross’ daughter by midday Wednesday. Bath Savings locations in Maine are also collecting donations on the family’s behalf.
“As we mourn all of those who lost their lives, please keep Peyton Brewer-Ross and his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers,” the Westbrook School Department said on its website.
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