George Bayley will celebrate his 82nd birthday Dec. 27. And after nine years, it will also be his last Sunday as director of music at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Lewes.

Bayley is an organist who has international reach.

“I’m better known in the United Kingdom than I am here. I’ve been playing the organ for 65 years. I started playing it in church at age 16,” he says.

In June, Scotland’s Royal School of Church Music honored his years of dedication and mastery of the instrument and music he’s created.

“If you want to find out more than you’d really want to know about me, just go to Google and type in three words – George Bayley organist,” he said.

Bayley is amazed by the internet’s capability to generate information about one’s past.

“There’s something on there that I did in 1949 – the premiere of an organ composition by the Puerto Rican composer Héctor Campos Parsi.

“He was a friend of mine, and I did a premiere at Jordan Hall in Boston. I think it was in March,” Bayley said.

A book about Campos Parsi had been written in which Bayley is mentioned. A book review followed, and through metadata magic, Bayley became Googleable.

“It’s powerful – it’s scary,” he said.

Bayley traces his maternal roots to Scotland, a country of which he is clearly fond. “My mother was a Macintyre,” he said. Her 19th century relatives immigrated to Canada.

Bayley said the St. Peter’s church choir three years ago decided that he should have a kilt.

“I was fitted up for it in Scotland. I’ll be wearing that as my vestment on my birthday – not the cassock and cotta,” he says.

A man who lives for more than 80 years has more than a few stories to tell. “I could go on for hours,” he warns before starting a short story.

One day after Sunday service, the rector ordered him off the organ bench.

“Someone at the church had hired a piper, and he was all kilted out. He came up with a skirling of pipes and escorted me out. And then the devil got hold of me. I was wearing my kilt underneath my cassock and I lifted it and flashed my kilt. It was hilarious to see the expressions – from laughter to absolute surprise,” he said.

He and wife Libby have traveled together extensively.

Since 1991, Bayley has flown from the United States to the United Kingdom 27 times.

Most trips included a visit to Scotland.

He began traveling to the UK after one of his daughters married, moved to Scotland with her husband and had a child.

“I first went to see my wee grandson, and I haven’t quit going,” he said.

Bayley’s reputation as a talented, experienced, highly skilled, depthy and knowledgeable (How many superlatives can one use?) church organist is well established.

Bayley grew up in Whitman, Mass., where his father was principal at the high school he attended. He started playing piano when he was 2 years old.

“I still remember the first chord I played. It was an A-flat major,” he said. He took piano lessons, played music throughout his early school years and at age 16 was asked to become organist at Amherst Unitarian Church. He continued his education at the esteemed New England Conservatory and the Loomis Chaffeey School in Windsor, Conn.

During his career Bayley has been an organist at churches in Anniston, Ala.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Albany, N.Y.; Oak Ridge, Tenn.; and Newport News, Va.

This will be Bayley’s second retirement.

He’ll begin freelancing early next year doing long-term and interim substitutes anywhere in the United States or United Kingdom. He’ll also continue to develop another outlet and market for his material through Deerwood Music (deerwoodmusic.com) a company he started three years ago, which publishes sacred and choral music and organ transcriptions.

Bayley’s travels have given him the opportunity and pleasure of playing some of the world’s finest organs. As a participant in a bench exchange program, Bayley lives in the home of a European organist and plays various venues. His exchange partner does the same here.

“We swap houses, cars and jobs but not money,” Bayley said.

In Hemel Hempstead, England, Bayley played in a church that was built in 1132.

“While I was there, I played four weddings and a funeral,” he said, laughing.

Among the best instuments he says he’s played:

The organ in the Truro Cathedral in Truro, England, which was built in 1888 by Henry Willis, who is also known as Father Willis. “It’s an extraordinary instrument,” he says of the organ, which he also notes has had no tonal changes since its construction.

There’s also the organ at the Salisbury Cathedral in Salisbury, England, built in 1875, and the organ in Union Chapel in Islington, England, built in 1878. Father Willis constructed both.

“And I must add a fourth. The T.C. Lewis organ, built in 1900, in Cheltenham Grove Art Museum in Glasgow. It’s in the great central hall. I’ve played three recitals on it,” Bayley said.

Although what he’s doing is called retiring, Bayley won’t quit pulling out the stops, dancing on the pedals and gliding across the keys.

“I don’t know how old I am, I really don’t. I can’t lift as much as I used to, and I’m not as physically strong as I used to be, but I’m still at the peak of my composing and playing powers.”