Bret Hamer Godfrey was born on April 4, 1952 in Portland, Oregon, to Samuel and Florence Godfrey. Bret attended and graduated in 1970 from Homestead High School in Los Altos, CA. Bret was recruited to play baseball for Oregon State University and did so for two years before deciding to focus on studies. Originally Bret started his studies at OSU in the field of Forestry, but later changed to music performance due to his life-long love of music. From an early age Bret loved music. He took piano lessons throughout his formative years and became an accomplished pianist. He received his B.S. degree in 1975 but went back to school for a fifth year to earn his teaching degree.
In 1983 Bret married Diana Lee Simpson in Shedd, Oregon. That same year he obtained his Master’s degree in Music Education from the University of Oregon. The couple live in Corvallis, Oregon, and have two kids: Mickey Godfrey (1988) who graduated from University of Oregon with a B.S. Business-Sports Marketing, and Kipp Oliver Godfrey (1991) who earned a B.A. in Anthropology from Pacific Lutheran University, and is a Graduate student at the University of Florida.
It was during Bret’s 36 years of teaching choir for the Corvallis School District that he recognized the financial needs of some students wanting to pursue studies in music. He noticed that due to lack of financial resources many students were unable to purchase or rent an instrument to be in the school’s band, but because of their love for music would chose to be in choir instead. Recognizing that these same students may not have the resources to pursue studies in music, Bret chose to establish the Godfrey Music Scholarship Endowment.
The purpose of the Fund is to award scholarships to Benton County high school seniors who will be attending Oregon State University to study music, with choral or piano studies preference.