Homer H. Lewis, Jr., a reed voicer who worked for both M. P. Möller and his own firm Trivo, died May 4 at his home in Hagerstown, Maryland. Known familiarly as “Junie,” Lewis was 93.
In 1942, while still a high school senior, Lewis began employment at Möller doing defense work. In 1943, he enlisted in the United States Navy, serving aboard the USS Bronstein, a destroyer escort, as a fire control man, Third Class, in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. At the conclusion of World War II, Lewis returned to Möller to become a reed voicer alongside his uncle, Adolf Zajic (1909–1987), who had come to Möller from Welte-Tripp in 1931.
In 1963, Lewis, Joseph E. Clipp, and Edward Lushbaugh founded the Trivo Company, initially as a part-time enterprise. In 1969, the partners incorporated the business as Trivo Company, Inc., to provide voicing and reconditioning of reed stops, as well as new pipes.
Lewis retired from Möller in 1972. While continuing to work part time at Trivo, he taught principles of electricity at Victor Cullen Reform School for Boys in Sabillasville, Maryland, a correctional institute run by the State of Maryland. In 1974 when the state relocated the school, Lewis switched to full-time work at Trivo, and in 1983, Lewis and Clipp bought out Edward Lushbaugh’s share of Trivo. Lewis retired in 2012, at age 86. His career in the organ business had spanned seven decades.
Lewis was a member of the Improved Order of Red Men #84, Williamsport, Maryland; Washington County Amvets (Post 10), Hagerstown; and the American Legion. He was a founding member of the American Institute of Organbuilders. His wife, Nancy, who frequently joined her husband at AIO conventions, died last year.
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