Everett Calvin Crouse

Everett Calvin Crouse, a clarinet-flute-saxophone player, bandleader, music educator, and long-time resident of San Diego, died March 8, 2025, at a skilled nursing facility in Scripps Ranch. He was 78 years old.

He was born at home in Visalia, California, on June 22, 1946, to Emily, a homemaker, and Calvin, a meter reader for the Southern California Gas Company. He began to play clarinet in the third grade, after a music teacher took extra time to show him how his fingers could cover the holes in the instrument and produce a graceful sound. That clear, graceful tone lasted the rest of his life. He played orchestral music, musicals, rock, soul, jazz, ragtime, polkas, and Dixieland with equal facility.

He achieved a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education at the College of Idaho and completed graduate work at Fresno State College. His career as a public school music teacher in Turlock, California, was cut short when he was drafted into the Army.

Wishing to spare the United States Army the embarrassment of how he handled firearms, he enlisted in the United States Navy Music Program in 1968. In February 1970, he was assigned to the Commander Naval Air Forces Pacific Unit Band 155 which deployed on the USS Iwo Jima for the Apollo XIII landing in the South Pacific. His next sea assignments were aboard the USS Constellation, USS Kitty Hawk, and USS Hancock for Western Pacific evolutions in conjunction with Commander Task Force 77 in the Tonkin Gulf of Viet Nam.

In June 1971, Mr. Crouse was selected as a charter member of the original Navy Show Band West. He served as tenor saxophone instrumentalist, stage manager and logistics coordinator. In June 1975, he was selected for the prestigious United States Naval Academy Band in Annapolis, Maryland. In addition to his contributions as an instrumentalist, he was a featured Master of Ceremonies, operations coordinator, and conductor. As Chief Petty Officer, he completed the Enlisted Bandleader Course at the Armed Forces School of Music. His stint at Navy Band Great Lakes—during which he advanced to Senior Chief Musician—led to his next assignment as Director, Navy Band Guam, where he led the band in such exotic locations as Western Samoa, the Cook Islands, Ulithi, Yap, and the many islands of the Marianas Archipelago. He also found time to play in the pit orchestras of local productions of South Pacific and West Side Story.

He and the family loved Guam, but his complexion did not. He contracted the first of his skin cancers and was rushed back to California, where after recovering, he became Assistant Director of Navy Band San Francisco. June 1985 brought a transfer to Washington, DC, to the Bureau of Naval Personnel as Fiscal Manager for the Navy Music Program and subsequent advancement to Master Chief Petty Officer. He was later appointed the Enlisted Personnel Detailer for the Program.

Mr. Crouse went back to Navy Band San Diego in July 1988 as Assistant Director. In 1989, another encounter with cancer resulted in the loss of his right ear. Once he realized a true affinity with Vincent van Gogh, he also realized he could use his prosthetic for comic effect, resulting in such customs as introducing himself to new band members by sitting down next to them, popping it off, and saying “I always prefer to play by ear, don’t you?”

In 1993 he moved to the Bay Area for his second tour as Assistant Director of Navy Band San Francisco and finally, ended his career at NTC San Diego in 1997, 29 years after his original enlistment.

In 1997, Mr. Crouse resumed his public school music teaching career, at Pacific Beach Middle School. In his fourth year of teaching, he added the Mission Bay High School music program to his assignment in Pacific Beach. With the strong support of America's Finest City Dixieland Jazz Society, Mr. Crouse was able to continue the Dixieland Jazz tradition taking his high school band to the Thanksgiving Festival and the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee each year until his retirement in 2003. After retirement from teaching, he performed with Marty Conley's Big Band Express, the Legacy Big Band, Paragon Jazz Band, Coronado Concert Band, Heliotrope Ragtime Orchestra, Edelweiss Beer Hall Band and the Rey Vinole Big Band and Orchestra.

Everett Crouse's personal military decorations include the Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, Navy Unit Commendation, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Navy Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Viet Nam Service Medal, Overseas Service Ribbon, and Republic of Viet Nam Campaign Medal.

He loved many things besides his friends, family and fellow musicians: La Choy soy sauce, antipasto salad, popsicles, Hawaii, cruises, the Padres and the Gulls, Cole Porter, Stephen Sondheim, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Dolly Parton and her 1987 variety show, Louis Armstrong, Otis Redding, Nancy Wilson, Albert Brooks, Alfred Hitchcock, Spike Jones, Jack Benny, Edward “Rochester” Anderson, John Wayne, James Stewart, Mel Blanc, Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, The Marx Brothers, Madeline Kahn, Letterman, Willys Mays and McCovey, Seinfeld, oranges, nectarines, British murder mystery shows, and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. His favorite movie candy was Mason Dots, which he celebrated because of their totally inorganic quality.

A second generation native Californian, Mr. Crouse is survived by his wife, the former Eufemia F. Solomon of Pangasinan, Philippines; younger son Edward, of Chicago, Illinois; granddaughter, Alexandria, of Long Beach, California; two great granddaughters, Mylinh and Myiah; and his older brother Bill. He was predeceased by his older son, Neil.