Donald Wescoat
Donald Eldon Wescoat
AKA Bullseye
16 Sep 1945 - 19 May 2007
We are squares in the circle,
Dancing below and above,
Weaving an unending story—
Squares in the circle of love.
— written by Donald and performed for the Memorial Tip at the 1996 San Francisco Convention, Stars, Thars & Cable Cars.
Clubs & Associations
Foggy City Dancers
Midnight Squares
GCA Caller School
- attended 1996, 1997
Obituary
Wescoat, Donald Eldon, 61, passed away May 19, 2007. Resident of Fullerton. Survived by mother, Oweeta; and sister, Carolle. Viewing will be 6-8 PM Friday, May 25 and service 11 A.M. Saturday, May 26, both at McAulay & Wallace Mortuary, Fullerton. McAulay & Wallace handled arrangements.[1]
Donald Wescoat -- musical director
Steven Winn, Chronicle Arts and Culture Critic
Donald Eldon Wescoat, a longtime San Francisco musical director with an elfin demeanor and a flair for lighting the theatrical spark in period music, died May 19 in Southern California.
Mr. Wescoat, 61, had been hospitalized with double pneumonia for seven months and died of a heart attack in the Los Angeles County community of Sun Valley, according to Joseph Lillis, his theatrical partner of many years.
Mr. Wescoat and stage director Lillis had their biggest hit with "Some Like It Cole," a buoyant Cole Porter revue that played 110 cities around the country for close to 20 years. The show ran locally at the Marines Memorial Theatre and the Plush Room in the 1990s. In addition to arranging the songs and medleys, Mr. Wescoat traveled with the show as its agile and fluid pianist.
Mr. Wescoat arranged the music for the Lillis-directed shows "Christmas Cavalcade," "And What, Give Up Show Biz?" and "The Big Broadcast." He also composed original music for those shows and often performed in them as well, his abundant curly hair bouncing at his keyboard perch. Mr. Wescoat's other performance credits include Dame Edna, "Dames at Sea" and "High Society."
"He was a musical genius," said Lillis. "I never met anyone who could wrap a song around a singer the way Donald did. Even in an audition situation, where he was accompanying someone for the first time, he just had this instinct for what made a singer and a song sound good."
Mr. Wescoat was born in Riverside on Sept. 16, 1945, and attended Fullerton High School. He moved to Telluride, Colo., where he helped restore a theater and later attended nursing school. Mr. Wescoat spent six years in the Army Medical Corps, serving in Korea and Japan. He lived in New York and San Francisco before returning in 2003 to Fullerton, where he and his sister, Carolle Wescoat, cared for their parents.
In addition his sister of Redondo Beach, Mr. Wescoat is survived by his mother, Oweeta Wescoat, of Fullerton. Services have been held.[2]
Remembrances
Nurse, musician and composer, Donald—nicknamed “Bullseye” for his distinctive choreography that returned dancers home without a need to promenade—served as FCD Club Night caller. In 1996, Bullseye Wescoat composed Squares in the Circle of Love. It is frequently performed during Memorial Tips.[3]
Memorial Panel
- 3UR | Midnight Squares (birth year on badge is incorrect)
Photos
Obituary (San Francisco Chronicle)
Obituary photo
