Symphony cellist fixed instruments

2/15/2007

LIMA, Ohio -Bruce L. Sims, a longtime owner and operator of the former Lima Instrument Repair, died Saturday in the Springview Manor Nursing Home here. He was 87.

He had a massive stroke and a heart attack. The family did not know the cause of death.

Mr. Sims owned and operated the business since its inception in 1972 until 2002, when he retired and the business, which repaired wind and string instruments, was closed.

Before 1972, he had worked at two former Lima music stores.

Mr. Sims also played the cello with the Lima Symphony from the late 1940s to the mid 1950s. Before that, he played the clarinet with the American Legion Band in the late 1930s, also in Lima.

In the mid 1930s, Mr. Sims and his parents, Farron U. Sims and Naomi Wilson Sims, formed the Sims Trio. He played the cello and his parents the piano and violin. They performed in area churches through the early 1940s.

"He was a very quiet person [And] he was a very straightforward person," his daughter, Anita Skinner, said.

A native of Cleveland, Mr. Sims graduated in 1938 from the former South High School in Lima.

Later, when the United States entered World War II, Mr. Sims tried to enlist in the military but was refused for medical reasons.

In his free time, he enjoyed music, building and repairing musical instruments, target shooting, reading, boating, and his HO scale model train collection.

Mr. Sims was a member of South Side Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Lima.

His other memberships included the Lima Federation of Musicians Local 320, where he was a former secretary, a former treasurer, and a life member. He also was a former member of the National Rifle Association.

Surviving are his wife of 60 years, Evelyn Bird; daughter, Anita Skinner; three grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be at 8 p.m. today in the Chamberlain-Huckeriede Funeral Home, Lima, where visitation will be after 4 p.m. today.

The family suggests tributes to the Lima Symphony endowment fund, St. Rita's Hospice, or the Lima Memorial Health System's intensive care unit or emergency room.