A Sad Loss

This past Sunday another of our neighbors passed away – - David Lewis who was married to Joann Pace Lewis.  He had cancer and died within days or weeks of finding out (I haven’t been able to ascertain how long he has known, but it was a very short time).

I remember when the Lewis boys first crossed our path; I think I was twelve years old and still employed by my parents as Vickie’s chaperone (LOL).  David and his two brothers came to Hurricane on their motorcycles and ended up connecting with some of the girls.  At that time, Bobby, the youngest was smitten with Kathy and Paul was head over heels for Vickie.  Mom always joked that Vickie’s first boyfriend (referring to Paul – - was he the first, Vic?) carried her Barbie dolls home for her (in an overnight case so he had no idea what he was transporting).  Later, Paul married another ‘Hurricane Girl,’ and David married Joann.  Before that, though, they livened up some of our Hurricane parties.  That was back in the day when kids did not automatically get cars at age sixteen, nor did they have to have movies, roller-skating, etc. for entertainment.  Most young people socialized with those on their particular ‘creek.’  Thus, all the young people that lived on Hurricane Creek would get together for wiener roasts at the abandoned one-room school building, or parties at various locations on the creek.  The majority of us were cousins so we were thrilled to have boys from another area come to join us.

I have fond memories of those times and of David.  My sympathy goes out to Joann, one of the sweetest, friendliest people I have ever known.  She was Riley’s Algebra teacher throughout middle school and is exceptional at her job.  They had four children – - JP, Jed, Rebecca and Sarah.