World of Yesterday

Leo "Sunny" Schoenbrun died in his Sequim home of age-related causes. He was 96.

He was born in Albany, N.Y., to Edward and Freda (Silverman) Schoenbrun.

Originally a resident of Detroit, Mr. Schoenbrun was a member of the musicians union and traveled extensively in the music business.

As a composer, he has a piece in the William Primrose Collection of viola music at Brigham Young University in Salt Lake City.

After moving to the North Olympic Peninsula in 1973, Mr. Schoenbrun played violin, viola and bass with the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra and was an emeritus member of the board.

In addition, Mr. Schoenbrun was known as "The Founding Father of Clallam Transit" after he led a signature-gathering campaign to create the Clallam Transit System.

He also served two terms on the North Olympic Library System board, Medic One ambulance service of Port Angeles board, and on the committee for an addition to the Clallam County Courthouse.

He took creative writing at Peninsula College and wrote for the Peninsula Daily News.

As a pilot, Mr. Schoenbrun was a first lieutenant with the Civil Air Patrol, and at age 77 crossed the country on a motorcycle.

He was a member of Olympic B'nai Shalom, the Port Angeles-Sequim Jewish community.

He was recipient of numerous awards, including one from the New Jersey Foundation for the Blind as sighted people who helped the sightless.

Mr. Schoenbrun invented a prototype Braille electric typewriter and taught Braille, at one time having the largest Braille class in the state and still teaching one student in 1999.

His wife, the former Dorothy "Dorala" Wilder who he married in Mount Clemens, Mich., died in 1987. Their one son preceded him in death.

He is survived by sister and brother-in-law Gail and Sheldon Lutz of Farmington Hills, Mich.