WESTBROOK – The annual concert in memory of Ann Mason Osann, a Westbrook music instructor who was a cancer victim, is set for next week.

The free concert, “Applause for a Cause,” is at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 28, in the Westbrook Performing Arts Center, 471 Stroudwater St.

The concert features the Westbrook High School Chamber Singers, directed by Michelle Snow; the Gorham High School Chamber Singers, directed by Matt Murray and Gorham’s First Parish Congregational Church Choir, led by Bill Jenks.

This year’s performance marks the 11th memorial concert in honor of Osann. Diane Atwood was hostess for the first scholarship benefit concert in 2001.

“Eleven years later we’re still honoring the kooky music teacher with the whacky socks, big earrings, and determination enough to raise over $30,000 for cancer research while she herself was stricken,” said retired Westbrook music teacher Joanna Baker, who is a concert organizer.

Osann died at 46, leaving two children and her husband, Rick Osann, theater teacher at Bonny Eagle High School.

“Our son and daughter were in high school and middle school at the time. They’re both out of college now,” Rick Osann said Monday.

Ann Mason Osann had directed Westbrook’s chamber singers and conducted the First Parish Church choir in producing a CD benefiting cancer research.

“Ann was an extraordinarily outgoing and caring person. She was a wonderful leader of volunteers, both as a teacher in the classroom and as a conductor of a volunteer choir, because people flocked to her and would do anything for her,” Rick Osann said this week. “And the key reason for this was that they all knew how she loved them and would do anything for them.”

Baker said Snow was one of Osann’s student teachers and now conducts the Westbrook High School Chamber Singers.

Baker said she was amazed by the diversity of the students in Ann Mason Osann’s high school chorus. “Everyone was welcome,” Baker said. “Everyone was special. They called her ‘Mrs. Mo,’ and they all loved her.”

“Many of her students have gone on to become teachers, inspired by her dedication and courage, and many remain friends of our family today,” Rick Osann said.

Baker recalled an amusing story about her friend Ann. “My favorite story involves Ann and a friend on a trip to England. They drove past the house of a favorite composer hoping to see his laundry and thus settle a difference of opinion,” Baker said. “The point of contention – did he wear boxers or briefs?”

The benefit includes raffles, a silent auction, sing along and bake sale. And this year, something new, Baker said, because Ann was famous for her big, wacky earrings.

“We’ve decided to include an earring tree,” Baker said.

Baker remembers Ann as a “talented colleague and friend, very kind with a big heart and infectious smile.”

In November of 2000, Osann, who had just returned after nine weeks in Seattle for special medical treatments, busily prepared to direct the First Parish choir for a December concert, “What Sweeter Music.”

Ann Mason Osann uplifted the community. An American Journal article 12 years ago said she had received 600 cards from well-wishers.

“I keep them in a shoe box under my bed,” she said. “I felt blessed.”

Teacher Ann Mason Osann, whose memory will be honored at a concert Nov. 28, was “an extraordinarily outgoing and caring person.”