REV. W. LEWIS DIED TUESDAY

Rev. Watson F. Lewis of Ottumwa, Iowa died Tuesday afternoon of a heart attack which he had suffered the week before. Immediately following the attack he was rushed to the St. Joseph hospital in Ottumwa where everything possible known to medical skill was done, but the end came on Tuesday afternoon. His son, Gordon, was with him to the end.

Formerly pastor of the Blair Congregational church, he has many friends here who will grieve his departure. At his death he was 67 years old.

He came to Blair in February of 1944 and left in September of 1947, and in those years he was a very popular minister. He was a man of more than ordinary ability and had traveled widely, having spent several years in Russia. He delighted in relating his experiences in Russia and was favorably impressed with the Russian people.

After he returned to America, he was employed in Y.M.C.A. and Red Cross work and came to Blair directly from St. Louis where he was head of a Y.M.C.A. organization for fourteen years.

His wife died a short time before he came to Blair, and he was very lonely. He felt the loss keenly, but he put his heart into the work of the church and he was known for his masterful talks he gave.

Funeral services will be held Friday in Webster Grove, Mo. where interment will be made beside his wife.

He leaves to mourn his passing a son, Gordon, of Blair and a daughter, Marjorie, who is teaching in the University of Iowa at Iowa City, Iowa; also a grandson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Lewis.

He was born in Ithaca, New York and educated in Cornell University. In 1918 he joined the World Service staff of the International Committee of the Y.M.C.A. to serve as a secretary in Russia. This was followed with a year’s service at Archangel, Siberia and three years of boys work at Harbin, Manchuria. He returned to the United States in 1922, was connected with the Minneapolis “Y” for a year, and then went to St. Louis and from St. Louis to Blair.

~~~Obituaries courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair, Nebraska Public Library~~~

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