Dad (Bill Bevins, Sr.) passed away this morning at 6am. His 95 years of eventful life included not only farming and selling farm machinery, but teaching vocational agriculture, as a developer building houses, selling Oldsmobiles, and for a brief period of time selling International Harvester refrigerators. He was a true survivor, having had rheumatic fever and tuberculosis as a child in east Kentucky, heart problems throughout his life, and in his last years, fought prostate cancer into remission not once, but three times, and lived with atypical Parkinsons disease for many years. Finally, the two caught up with him. He grew up close enough to the Hatfields of Hatfield and McCoy fame that he had a story of how the Bevins family almost became involved. Dad knew the Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken and had some stories to tell about that particular character... He hitchhiked his way to the Worlds Fair one year, simply to do it. He even rode a Harley for a few months, up until he decided it was too dangerous, having seen two motorcyclists riding ahead of him die in a wreck, unable to stop in time on a slick road. Having won a bet (probably on UK sports) he received a wheelbarrow ride down the middle of Main Street of Georgetown from his best friend. His broad knowledge and willingness to attack any problem was very inspiring, and he often shared this knowledge. He would ask, Do you want to come learn something? And with those words, I might learn how to install a light fixture, work with cattle, prune trees or do simple repairs on furniture. I think my love of teaching may come from this, and knowing how to fix things has certainly come in useful many times in the lab setting. It can be nice to order a two dollar part instead of having to buy a two hundred dollar pump. He was extraordinary person, and one that will be truly missed.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 16:47:50 +0000
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