“We will all miss his performances greatly,” said Ken Neufeld, Victoria Theatre’s president and chief executive. “His skill was unique. There just weren’t too many people around who can handle our Mighty Wurlitzer like Martin.”
Bevis graduated from Middletown High School in 1951 and earned a degree in aviation administration from Miami University, though he never worked in the field. He began playing the organ when he was 8, but he never had a music lessons or learned to read music. He worked in real estate in addition to his seven-decade career as an organist, playing for a variety or theaters, supper clubs and skating rinks, according to the theater association.
The theater will make other arrangements for the pre-show entertainment for its 2016 Cool Film Series, however, Neufeld said: “No one can really take Martin’s place. But we’ll pay tribute to him at the start of the Cool Films Series this summer.”
Funeral services are pending and will take place in Maysville.