Sea Coast Echo remembers beloved MS Coast journalist Dwayne ‘Double D’ Bremer

The New Orleans Saints, the Hancock Hawks and the people of Hancock County have lost their biggest fan.

It’s hard to write through a veil of tears, but that’s what we’re doing this week at The Sea Coast Echo, following the untimely passing of our long-time friend and co-worker, Dwayne “Double D” Bremer this past Sunday.

I first met Dwayne 24 years ago, when he was working as a freelancer for us, writing stories on his beloved Hawks football team.

After Hurricane Katrina, we invited Dwayne to write full-time for us, and I think that’s when he found his true calling — he loved to tell a good story.

He embedded himself in the community, learning everything he could about everybody he met, and writing story after story on the people and places of Hancock County.

Everyone here at the Echo remembers his exuberance, his excitement, his sheer joy for living.

Dwayne never met a stranger, and I never heard him say an unkind word to anyone.

I can’t recall the number of times I was with him somewhere and we’d bump into a “buddy” of his that he knew from somewhere — often, from the Hancock County Jail, where Dwayne had worked as a guard. Even former inmates regarded him as a friend, because he treated everyone with care and respect, even when they were at their most down-and-out.

He wouldn’t just remember them, either — he’d remember their children’s or parents names, along with other information down to the smallest detail.

Dwayne died far too young, but he packed a lot of living into his 49 years, and he tried harder and loved people more than any other human I’ve ever known.

Most of all, he loved his family.

He leaves behind his soulmate, Mary Ann Schwartz Bremer, step-children Christopher Alan Schwartz, Savanna Marie Barbetta (Trey Island) and Brett Anthony Barbetta; grandchildren Christiana Nieze Schwartz, Christopher Alan Schwartz Jr. Ethan William Island and Ayden Maddox Island; godchild Younger Wingerter; mother Adrianne Rose Guidry Bremer; brother Daniel Charles Bremer Jr.; sister-in-law Erica Denice Schwartz; and longtime friend Regina Radford and many others.

I wasn’t related to Dwayne, but I was so very proud to call him my “brother from another mother,” and I feel I’m a better person for having known him. He will be missed.