“He was just an awesome, awesome person,” said Watson’s daughter, Shannon Watson-Determann, 33, explaining that her father opened his first music store in Bremerton on Kitsap Way in 1979.

Before that, Watson-Determann said her father was a “very well-known jazz musician,” playing the drums and singing with bands across the county and in other states such as California.

After moving to Gorst and opening his music store first on Bay Street and eventually on Mile Hill Drive near Albertson’s, Watson-Determann said her father was very active in the community and helped bring music to local schools with instrument rentals.

“He started it in the elementary schools, too,” she said.

Five years ago, however, she said her father got sick and was diagnosed with numerous ailments including Parkinson’s, Lou Gehrig’s disease and diabetes.

At the time, the doctors were not optimistic about his prognosis.

“They said he had about two more years, three tops,” she said, explaining that her stepmother, Diana Watson, 58, took such good care of her father that he lived “four more years instead of two.

“She kept him alive — she was amazing,” she said, adding that while her husband was ill, Diana Watson ran the store the past few years.

Recently, Watson-Determann got married and said her father was able to attend the wedding. Just a couple of weeks afterward, he died.

“He passed away peacefully, and he is in a better place,” she said. “He had lost his speech and his movement. He was miserable.”

His memorial is today at 3 p.m. at the Kingdom’s Hall in Bremerton