Chambers remembered for his music
By Earlene McMichael
Kalamazoo Gazette
Larry A. Chambers, a local amateur folk singer and musician, died Tuesday
at Borgess Medical Center. He was 52.
Chambers, a salesman with the Bertsch Co., a wholesale pipe-fitters firm
in Kalamazoo, sang and played the guitar in the 1960’s with the Side
Door Singers, a folk group.
It was among the groups that opened what may have been Kalamazoo’s
first coffeehouse, the Side Door, formerly located at North Westnedge and
East Michigan avenues.
Chambers performed during the 1970s and 1980s for then-Hackett Catholic High
School’s cabaret fund-raisers as part of a duet and later as a member
of Brush Creek, a bluegrass and folk group. He would sing and play several
instruments, including the banjo, guitar and little mandolin.
Brush Creek also often performed for leukemia patients at the Special Days
Camp operated by Kalamazoo Dr. George Royer. The group appeared on television
when a CBS news program did a story on the camp.
“On weekends during the summer, he would sit on the front porch and
start playing and it would attract neighbors who enjoyed listening and playing
as well,” said Chambers’ wife, Judy. “This was a big part
of his life – music and friends. He was an easy-going, laid back friend
to everyone. There wasn’t anybody who met him who didn’t like
him.”
Besides his wife, Chambers is survived by a son, Blake Chambers of Kalamazoo;
a daughter, Amy Chambers Ferchak of Fenton; and two brothers, Kevin Chambers
of Oregon and Scott Chambers of Minnesota.
A memorial service was scheduled for 4 p.m. today at the Truesdale-Ansell
Funeral Home, 5933 S. Westnedge, with the Rev. Wayne M. Conner officiating. |