Obit for my father, George F. Lewis.
George Francis Lewis, an English teacher at Brattleboro Union High School for 24 years and well-known figure in local civic, educational, and Episcopal Church circles, died Sunday, Dec. 18 after a period of declining health. He was 90.
In addition to his career at BUHS, Lewis was a resident of Guilford since 1968 when he, his wife Laura and daughter Louise settled there. He was a dedicated member of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Brattleboro for nearly 50 years, and a lifelong lover of the opera. Many no doubt saw Lewis over the years as he drove around Windham County in one of a series of Volvo sedans he owned, always easy to spot thanks to a unique Vermont license plate that read OPERA.
Lewis was born on Nov. 19, 1926 in Richmond, Staten Island in New York, the son of Robert Miller Lewis and Louise Betty Charlotte (Arbogast) Lewis. He graduated from New Dorp High School in 1944 and then joined the Army where he served in the final months of World War II, eventually working as the chief clerk of the Office of the Chief of Chaplains in the European Theater during the early days of the post-war occupation.
After leaving the service in 1946 Lewis entered Yale University the next year as a pre-ministerial student, graduating in the class of 1951. His growing interest in teaching and his satisfaction, at that time, in acting, which included several appearances on Broadway stages, altered his post- collegiate goal.
Settling on a career in education, Lewis taught at The Hackley School in Tarrytown, N.Y. from 1951 to 1956, and in succeeding years at Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia (1956-58), Metairie Park Country Day School (1958-1960) and St. Martin’s Protestant Episcopal School (1960-1968), the latter both in New Orleans, Louisiana.
After a break to return to Yale where he did graduate work in English and education, earning a Master’s of Arts in Teaching, Lewis accepted a position in 1968 at Brattleboro Union High School as the first-ever head of the English department, a post in which he served for 21 years until retiring in 1992. During this period Lewis always said he enjoyed the pleasure and satisfaction of working with many of the Supervisory District’s students as well as some of the district’s best educators.
While teaching in New Orleans in 1960 Lewis met his future wife, Laura Jane Owens. The couple famously impressed each other during their first-ever encounter at a Mardi Gras ball, with an exchange of lines from Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” as they met on the dance floor.
In addition to his wife Laura Lewis he is survived by their daughter, Louise Neal Lewis Larsen, and two granddaughters, Juliet Eva Larsen and Anna Lily Ophelia Larsen of Westminster, California. He also leaves behind his younger sister, Virginia Ohlau of San Andreas, California, and was preceded in death by his older brother, Robert M. Lewis of Fresno, California. Lewis is also survived by 11 nieces and nephews.
His passion for opera extended far beyond his personalized license plate. He was a familiar voice on local radio station WKVT with his Curtain Raiser at the Met program airing just prior to the weekly Saturday matinee broadcasts of New York’s Metropolitan Opera from 1970 to 1994.
For many years he also conducted informational classes for interested community members called Opera for the Non-Musician. They became a much-loved community program and resulted in Lewis leading popular bus trips each year to New York City for theater and opera for adults.
Throughout the seventies and eighties he arranged to chaperone numerous yearly bus trips for BUHS students to visit New York City and see their very first Broadway show or opera, ensuring that BUHS students had these unique cultural experiences.
From his arrival in Southern Vermont in 1968 until his death he was an active member of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church where he served in many capacities from senior warden to quiet worshipper. Lewis spent three years as a general examination ordination reader for the national Protestant Episcopal Church, and served on various search committees when St. Michael’s occasionally sought new leadership.
His church was the major focus of his non-professional life and each new priest assigned to St. Michael’s came to know and cherish their friendship with Lewis.
Other church-and education-related activities Lewis participated in over the years included serving on the board of both the Christ Church Guilford Society and Christ Church Cemetery Board from 1970 to his death. He was a Brattleboro Union High School board member from 1992 to 1997, and for several years was an examination reader for the national Advanced Placement test in English.
From his earlier military service and collegiate studies he belonged to both American Legion Post 5 in Brattleboro and the Yale Club of New York City. Lewis was also a founding member of the Vermont teachers’ professional standards board and also a founding member of Algiers Fire District No. 1.
In his free time outside of all these many other activities Lewis loved to travel with his wife Laura, taking many trips to New York City and Europe, usually centered on theater-going. Occasionally he and Laura led groups of students on those theater trips to not only Manhattan, but London and Russia.
Acting and directing were also lifelong passions for Lewis. As a young man, he performed the lead role in “Harvey” at Yale. His appearances in Broadway casts included productions of “Life With Father” and “Oklahoma!” After settling in Vermont he acted and directed in local theater for many years, with memorable shows that included a 1976 Bicentennial production of “The Contrast” by Royall Tyler, who wrote the first American comedy. His passion for Shakespeare he passed onto his daughter Louise, and was reflected in the names she chose for her two girls, Lewis’ two granddaughters.
He was proud to have completed a 100-mile bicycle trip around Vermont once in his later middle- aged years, and from 1992 until his passing was an active member of the Outer Limits health club in Brattleboro.
And if anyone was lucky enough to have attended a dinner or cocktail party at Lewis’s home they almost certainly enjoyed a terrific meal – he loved to cook and was a gourmet enthusiast – one of his famous perfect Manhattans, a terrific tale about some fascinating event he’d experienced, or all of the above. His cooking pursuits also resulted in tasty treats for friends and family, who will especially miss his Christmas stollen, Easter pound cake and Dutch pot roast.
A memorial service for George Lewis will be held Saturday, January 28th, at 11:00 AM at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, located at 16 Bradley Ave., Brattleboro, VT 05301.
The family appreciates any memorials to go to St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, 16 Bradley Ave., Brattleboro, VT 05301, as well.
In addition to his career at BUHS, Lewis was a resident of Guilford since 1968 when he, his wife Laura and daughter Louise settled there. He was a dedicated member of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Brattleboro for nearly 50 years, and a lifelong lover of the opera. Many no doubt saw Lewis over the years as he drove around Windham County in one of a series of Volvo sedans he owned, always easy to spot thanks to a unique Vermont license plate that read OPERA.
Lewis was born on Nov. 19, 1926 in Richmond, Staten Island in New York, the son of Robert Miller Lewis and Louise Betty Charlotte (Arbogast) Lewis. He graduated from New Dorp High School in 1944 and then joined the Army where he served in the final months of World War II, eventually working as the chief clerk of the Office of the Chief of Chaplains in the European Theater during the early days of the post-war occupation.
After leaving the service in 1946 Lewis entered Yale University the next year as a pre-ministerial student, graduating in the class of 1951. His growing interest in teaching and his satisfaction, at that time, in acting, which included several appearances on Broadway stages, altered his post- collegiate goal.
Settling on a career in education, Lewis taught at The Hackley School in Tarrytown, N.Y. from 1951 to 1956, and in succeeding years at Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia (1956-58), Metairie Park Country Day School (1958-1960) and St. Martin’s Protestant Episcopal School (1960-1968), the latter both in New Orleans, Louisiana.
After a break to return to Yale where he did graduate work in English and education, earning a Master’s of Arts in Teaching, Lewis accepted a position in 1968 at Brattleboro Union High School as the first-ever head of the English department, a post in which he served for 21 years until retiring in 1992. During this period Lewis always said he enjoyed the pleasure and satisfaction of working with many of the Supervisory District’s students as well as some of the district’s best educators.
While teaching in New Orleans in 1960 Lewis met his future wife, Laura Jane Owens. The couple famously impressed each other during their first-ever encounter at a Mardi Gras ball, with an exchange of lines from Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” as they met on the dance floor.
In addition to his wife Laura Lewis he is survived by their daughter, Louise Neal Lewis Larsen, and two granddaughters, Juliet Eva Larsen and Anna Lily Ophelia Larsen of Westminster, California. He also leaves behind his younger sister, Virginia Ohlau of San Andreas, California, and was preceded in death by his older brother, Robert M. Lewis of Fresno, California. Lewis is also survived by 11 nieces and nephews.
His passion for opera extended far beyond his personalized license plate. He was a familiar voice on local radio station WKVT with his Curtain Raiser at the Met program airing just prior to the weekly Saturday matinee broadcasts of New York’s Metropolitan Opera from 1970 to 1994.
For many years he also conducted informational classes for interested community members called Opera for the Non-Musician. They became a much-loved community program and resulted in Lewis leading popular bus trips each year to New York City for theater and opera for adults.
Throughout the seventies and eighties he arranged to chaperone numerous yearly bus trips for BUHS students to visit New York City and see their very first Broadway show or opera, ensuring that BUHS students had these unique cultural experiences.
From his arrival in Southern Vermont in 1968 until his death he was an active member of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church where he served in many capacities from senior warden to quiet worshipper. Lewis spent three years as a general examination ordination reader for the national Protestant Episcopal Church, and served on various search committees when St. Michael’s occasionally sought new leadership.
His church was the major focus of his non-professional life and each new priest assigned to St. Michael’s came to know and cherish their friendship with Lewis.
Other church-and education-related activities Lewis participated in over the years included serving on the board of both the Christ Church Guilford Society and Christ Church Cemetery Board from 1970 to his death. He was a Brattleboro Union High School board member from 1992 to 1997, and for several years was an examination reader for the national Advanced Placement test in English.
From his earlier military service and collegiate studies he belonged to both American Legion Post 5 in Brattleboro and the Yale Club of New York City. Lewis was also a founding member of the Vermont teachers’ professional standards board and also a founding member of Algiers Fire District No. 1.
In his free time outside of all these many other activities Lewis loved to travel with his wife Laura, taking many trips to New York City and Europe, usually centered on theater-going. Occasionally he and Laura led groups of students on those theater trips to not only Manhattan, but London and Russia.
Acting and directing were also lifelong passions for Lewis. As a young man, he performed the lead role in “Harvey” at Yale. His appearances in Broadway casts included productions of “Life With Father” and “Oklahoma!” After settling in Vermont he acted and directed in local theater for many years, with memorable shows that included a 1976 Bicentennial production of “The Contrast” by Royall Tyler, who wrote the first American comedy. His passion for Shakespeare he passed onto his daughter Louise, and was reflected in the names she chose for her two girls, Lewis’ two granddaughters.
He was proud to have completed a 100-mile bicycle trip around Vermont once in his later middle- aged years, and from 1992 until his passing was an active member of the Outer Limits health club in Brattleboro.
And if anyone was lucky enough to have attended a dinner or cocktail party at Lewis’s home they almost certainly enjoyed a terrific meal – he loved to cook and was a gourmet enthusiast – one of his famous perfect Manhattans, a terrific tale about some fascinating event he’d experienced, or all of the above. His cooking pursuits also resulted in tasty treats for friends and family, who will especially miss his Christmas stollen, Easter pound cake and Dutch pot roast.
A memorial service for George Lewis will be held Saturday, January 28th, at 11:00 AM at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, located at 16 Bradley Ave., Brattleboro, VT 05301.
The family appreciates any memorials to go to St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, 16 Bradley Ave., Brattleboro, VT 05301, as well.
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| Brothers, George Francis Lewis and Robert M. Lewis, Staten Island, N.Y. |
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| Laura Owens Lewis, George F. Lewis and Louise Neal Lewis, New Orleans, La. |
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| George F. Lewis |
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| George F. Lewis |
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| Laura O. Lewis and the love of her life, George Francis Lewis. |
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| George F. Lewis |
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