Oct. 26, 1921 – March 2, 2019
Thomas W. (Tommy) Lewis was born on Oct. 26, 1921, in Foster to Roy Lewis and Bessie Clark. His stepmother, Melita (Boeckel) Lewis, raised him for much of his young life.
He passed away on March 2, 2019, at age 97, in Petersburg, Alaska, after a brief illness.
Tom lived in the Foster/Sweet Home area until 1942, when he and 16 other young men from the area joined the Navy at the beginning of World War II.
He served as a motor machinist mate until October 1945 on Patrol Torpedo (PT) boats in Guadalcanal and Bougainville in the South Pacific.
He married Jeannie Farrell from Brownsville in 1942 and they had two children, Sharon and Leroy. Leroy passed in 1981.
After their divorce in 1953, Tom moved to Petersburg, Alaska, and continued to work in the logging industry. He married Mildred Sanvick there in 1955. She had three boys, and they had a son, Thomas N. Lewis, who passed away in 2008.
Tom went to work on Alaska Marine Highway ferry system in 1965 as a Jr. Engineer and retired in 1985. In his retirement years he hunted and fished, picked berries, baked, canned vegetables and meat.
Mildred passed in 2009 after a lengthy illness and Tom continued baking treats for and being involved with patients in the Petersburg Long Term Care facility every week.
He lived a long and good life in his home of 58 years.
Tom suffered a stroke and passed with his family and so many wonderful friends at his side. Several of those friends from Petersburg were folks who had also relocated from the Sweet Home area.
He was a respected member of the community as a veteran and volunteer and will be sorely missed.
He is survived by a half-brother, Dennis Lewis and wife Carol Calhoon of Sweet Home/Foster; his daughter, Sharon Lewis of Bend; grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and several cousins in the Oregon area.
A gathering of friends and family will be on June 8, 2019 at the Lewis Cemetery in Foster at noon, with a lunch to follow at Lewis Creek Park.