AUGUSTA — Ralph Stephen Brewer was born Dec. 17, 1946, in Bath to Ralph W. Brewer and Sarah Hughes Brewer. He died Oct. 15 at the Togus VA Hospice and Palliative Care Unit.

He grew up in Bath and graduated from Morse High School in 1965. He was medically retired from the United States Army in 1968, following more than two years as a pharmacist specialist at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.

Steve returned to Maine and worked in the Portland area, finally relocating to Rangeley in the spring of 1972. He earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Maine at Farmington in the spring of 1977 and began a 20-year social studies teaching assignment for grades 9 through 12 at the Rangeley Lakes Regional School. He was the varsity baseball and varsity soccer coach at the school until 1995.

In 1998, he moved to southern California and taught grades 3 through 5 at the McKinley Avenue Elementary School in south central Los Angeles. After retirement from teaching, he moved to Mission, Texas, with his partner, Rebecca Libby Ryder, with whom he had reunited after more than 30 years, having met her originally while attending college in Maine.

He was a member of and former adjutant for the Rangeley Lakes Post 120 of the American Legion. He also belonged to the Disabled American Veterans organization. During his teaching career he was an active member of both the local and national teachers’ associations in Maine and California. He was a former board member of the Friends of Wilhelm Reich Museum and the Rangeley Lakes Historical Society. He was the moderator for the Rangeley town meeting during the mid- to late 1990s.

Recently he was recognized by the United States Army for his five-year volunteer commitment as a virtual judge for the Army’s eCybermission Program, a Web-based science and technology competition for students across the nation. In 2010, he was also recognized locally for his commitment to the restoration of the monument honoring World War I and II veterans located at the corner of Zion Hill and Borough Road in Chesterville. In 2010, the town of Chesterville dedicated its annual report to him for his efforts related to the monument’s restoration. Chesterville Grange No. 20 also recognized him with a community service award for his dedication to this community project.

He was an avid collector of stamps and coins. He also amassed an extensive collection of historical postcards of Bath and Rangeley and the Togus Veterans Administration hospital campus in Augusta. He will be fondly remembered for his witty sense of humor, passion for sports and photography, and love of his extended family.

He is survived by his life partner and best friend, Rebecca Libby Ryder of Chesterville; his sister, Susan Berthiaume and husband, Fran, of Gorham; sister, Ellen Belair and husband, Jim, of Tilton, N.H.; and cousin, Linda Kelley and husband, Bill, of Vermont.

He leaves four sons, Ralph and fiancee, Teresa Rembelles, of Aberdeen, Md., Hamilton and wife, Laura, of New Gloucester, Patrick and fiancee, Natasha Clark, of Rangeley, and Peyton and partner, Rachael Sloat, of Bath; stepdaughters, Sarah Ryder of West Chester, Pa., and Brooke Walter and partner, Nate Weesner, of Lincoln, Neb. The shining lights of his life were his grandchildren, Paulina of Maryland and Emily and Kayla of Maine, Ryan and Rory Lindahl of Maryland, and Jesse and Eddie Evans of Pennsylvania.

Online condolences may be made to the family at www.adamsmcfarlane.com.