Asheville Remembers Native Son Reverend Otis Ware

By Johnnie Grant

Citizens of Asheville will remember our native son, the Reverend Otis Ware, who died Monday, August 6, 2012, as an involved community member, activist, and friend.

A musical prodigy, Otis began playing concert piano as a child of six in elementary school. From there, he honed his musical talents to master other instruments including organ, trumpet, French horn, trombone, drums, and several woodwinds. The saxophone ultimately proved to be his favorite instrument.

A graduate of South French Broad High School, Class of ’67, Ware was a member of the famed Stephens-Lee High School Marching Band. His love of music persuaded him to join the Innersouls, a band formed by fellow saxophonist and Asheville native Stanley Baird. Baird attended North Carolina Central University to further his education in music, and pursued a successful career as a band instructor and a renowned jazz artist.

Eventually, Otis Ware formed his own musical group known to many as “Bite-Chew-and-Spit.” He enlisted other top local musicians including John Wyatt, Leroy Posey, Lynn Woods, Steve Hutchins, and Aaron Miles (a former member of the nationally known pop group “Cameo”). When disco was at its highest, ‘BCS’ traveled throughout the United States rocking music halls until the wee hours of the morning with its original full-bodied brassy orchestrated sounds. Eventually tiring of the road, BCS settled back in their home base of Asheville, and became the house band at the “Original Orange Peel” owned by Dicky Plemmons.

After more than 15 years in the secular music scene, Ware decided to go back to his roots in the church. He formed a gospel group named the New Gospel Ensemble, with members Alice Smith, Lois Collins, Martha Darity, Diane Darity, J.C. Martin, Gloria Ballard, and Doug Clement, along with John Wyatt from BCS. The group’s first gospel album, Jesus Is Wonderful – Powerful Name, produced a gospel favorite entitled “Jesus Is All Around Us.”

As Ware’s walk with God matured and became more than a personal one, he studied theology and was ordained into the ministry. Eventually, the Reverend Otis Ware became the founder and Pastor of the Solid Rock Missionary Baptist Church in Asheville.

Reverend Ware received numerous honors and awards for services rendered to the community and local churches. He was a member of the Baptist Ministers’ Union, General Baptist State Convention, and has held various positions on different boards of civic organizations for the City of Asheville and Buncombe County. He received the 2000 Griffin Award from the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County for the restoration and renovation of St. Mark’s African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, which was the original home of the Solid Rock Church family. As an anointed preacher and teacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Otis Ware had a passion to lead people into the presence of God.

This writer had the opportunity to speak with Rev. Ware recently, and to share with readers the words he shared: “I’ve done it all, and you know what? We all, somehow, always find our way back home to Jesus.”