In the company of a small group of friends, as Karan Chavis sang Amazing Grace, Willie Bennett died Saturday.
It happened around 1:45 p.m., less than an hour after a party had started in his honor, a "celebration of life," as he called it.
"The night was rough and this morning was difficult," said Sheila Walker, adding that at 11 p.m. Friday, Bennett told the group he wouldn't be missing his party and intended to see everyone one last time. "We knew he wasn't going to be there."
Walker, her husband Scott Hooks, Brooke Catalena and Chavis were the only ones present as the 62-year-old Bennett slipped away.
Nearby, in downtown Bryan's Kyle House, hundreds were gathered at Bennett's celebration.
"We told him all his friends were there, and he knew it was his going home party," Walker said. "So we told him to send his spirit."
Last week, when Bennett -- a longtime local fixture in the music scene -- realized he might have just weeks to live after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he asked his close friends for the send-off.
Matt Bobbitt, of Global Event Group, owns the Kyle House and was happy to host the party for the friend he called Downtown Willie.
"You can see his office from here," he said from the home's front lawn as guests drank beer and remembered Bennett. "It's not a traditional kind of party, but that represents what Willie's all about."
No formal announcement of Bennett's death was made at the party, but news traveled fast across the property. Several guests implied that was typical of Bennett -- he couldn't make it to the party in person, so he came in spirit.
Joe Fazzino, who many called Bennett's brother, was in attendance as well. He met Bennett 30 years ago while working at a convenience store near the rig where Bennett worked as a roughneck.
"He'd come in at 7 a.m., buy a hot link, a quart of beer and a jalapeño," he said, because that was when his shift ended. "He loved to talk, always loved to visit. I never met a person whose friends meant so much to them."
Bryan Thornton, Lanky Moore and Scott Thornton, also known as the band Diamondback TX, drove up from Mexia for Saturday's party.
They met Bennett in 1998 and shortly thereafter he became the group's booking agent and manager until around 2005.
Practical jokes were common between the four while on tour, and they recalled an occasion where Bennett exacted revenge.
The band members, they explained, took photos with Bennett's camera without him knowing. The images captured on film wouldn't be decent to describe, as Bennett discovered when he had the film developed and was handed the photos by a female employee at the store.
"In retaliation, he booked us at a gay bar," said Moore, laughing. He said the country band had never played that sort of venue before. "We were under contract and had to do it, but it was great. They loved us, and it's a good story."
Bennett co-founded the Northgate Music Festival, organized the first Starlight Music Series and helped create the first Texas Reds Festival in 2007.
That's when Gwynne Shillings, the Texas Reds event coordinator for the city of Bryan, met him.
"He was the most genuine person I had ever met," she said. "We were actually supposed to meet this week to discuss next year's lineup. We became so close working on the festival. You don't just know Willie in passing. He's the kind of person where if you know Willie, you know Willie."
She said she'd never been to the sort of celebration of life Bennett planned in his last days.
"But that's just like Willie," she said. "He'd rather celebrate his life with his friends than his friends celebrate his life without him."
Funeral arrangements have not been finalized but services are being handled by Trevino Funeral Home and will likely take place Wednesday with a gathering afterward at Kyle House.
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