Lay said Cepluch was his lifetime friend and mentor who paid for students’ field trips, who cast Lay in his first play and helped him get to Camp Campbell Gard, even showing up at his mother’s funeral. “Thanks for all you did for all you did for me and the thousands of kids that would not have had much of a chance without your support and direction.”
Cepluch raised another student for several years, Lay said.
In addition to being a leading advocate for years before the Fitton Center for Creative Arts was created, Cepluch and his girlfriend of 57 years, Pat Ganz, were founders of the Mad Anthony Theatre Company in Hamilton, which was respected across Ohio.
“It was fun to create a company of actors and crew,” Ganz said. “The goal was, ‘Let’s pick the best people we know to do these shows that we can’t do anywhere else.’”
The man who was raised in Hamilton’s Lindenwald neighborhood was kind, funny and patient with people and “would delve deeply into meaning of plays,” she said.
The group performed challenging works, like those of playwright Sam Shepard. Ganz, who was a drama teacher at Ross High School, put on plays at the Fitton Center “that made all the money, so he could do the plays that he wanted to,” she said.
Cepluch was born March 8, 1943, to Henry and Mary Rose (Burer) Cepluch. He graduated from Hamilton Catholic High School, and later from Miami University and earning his Master’s degree in education from Xavier University.
He taught at Queen of Peace, Hopewell and Harrison elementary schools many years before retiring as a teacher and becoming arts outreach director at the Fitton Center, putting artists in places like the Booker T. Washington Community Center, Boys & Girls Club and Alzheimer’s units to help people there.
He won awards for acting and directing from the American Community Theatre Association’s Cincinnati chapter.
The pair also worked with the Greater Hamilton Civic Theatre. Cepluch was a member of the Hamilton Fine Arts Hall of Fame and directed for the Hamilton Rotary Revels.
Cepluch “loved the arts, all of the arts, especially theater and music,” Ganz said. She called him a very patient teacher; a very avid reader. He also acted in other community groups, such as Middletown Lyric Theatre and the Stained Glass Theatre in Newport, Ky. And he recreated one of his favorite roles, Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof at La Comedia Dinner Theatre in Springboro.
Ganz said she met Cepluch by attending a community theater dress rehearsal when she was 18 and he was 21. He asked her to rehearse lines with him. Years later, he exposed his cleverness: By that rehearsal, he knew all his lines.
It was the best pick-up line Ganz ever heard, she said with a laugh.
Cepluch had four brothers: Bob (Patty) Cepluch; Don (Betty) Cepluch; Dick (Joyce) Cepluch; and Steve Cepluch. Their sister, Mary Lou Nichols, was buried recently.
Visitation will be 1-3 p.m. Wednesday at Brown Dawson Flick Funeral Home on Millville Avenue with a service at 3 p.m. Instead of flowers, people may donate to Animal Friends Humane Society, 1820 Princeton Road, Hamilton, OH 45011; Greater Hamilton Civic Theatre, 215 S. Third St., Hamilton, OH 45011; or Lane Public Library, 300 N. Third St., Hamilton, OH 45011.
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