EVANS BRITTIN

March 11, 1930 – July 18, 2015

Evans Brittin was truly a gifted music man of many talents, which he willingly shared his whole life. After he served in the U.S. Navy as a pilot, he graduated from Illinois State University and taught vocal and instrumental music to many youth in Springfield and Sangamon County for 28 years. No matter where he went after he retired from teaching, his students always recognized him.

He started Brittin Piano Tuning in 1960 and tuned for 55 years. During that time, he taught and left his legacy of piano tuning to his two sons and two grandsons. They have probably tuned most pianos in Springfield and the suburbs. Here again, he had many long-lasting customers.

He and his wife joined Retired Volunteers in Christ’s Service and traveled to Florida and Hawaii to tune 1,000 pianos in 30 years. Evans was a member of Laurel United Methodist Church for 55 years, where he directed youth and children’s choirs from 1968 to 1976.

Evans loved to entertain everywhere, and especially enjoyed playing toe-tapping piano music for singalongs at retirement homes with his wife and grandson. He formed the Musik Maker Band in 1972 to spread his talents further at parties and wedding receptions.

He played honky-tonk piano at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor for 13 years, and a very funny story emerged from an incident. A customer at Shakey’s spent many evenings enjoying Evans’ piano playing. As time went by, Evans decided to purchase a toupee in order to look younger. The first night he wore it to Shakey’s the regular customer was there, listening. In between songs the customer approached Evans and said, “You play pretty well, but your dad played better!” Evans and his wife took turns playing the piano during events at the Governor’s Mansion for eight years, during Governor Jim Edgar’s terms.

We all have so many good memories of Evans, and deeply miss his music at our family gatherings.

Becky Cowan, daughter