Harry Richard Lewis Jr., 91, died peacefully in his sleep during an afternoon nap Sunday, June 26, 2022, at Liberty Village in Maryville, Illinois.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri Jan. 10, 1931, to Harry Richard Sr. and Alice Gertrude (Rhodes) Lewis, Harry was raised in Edwardsville, Ill.
Harry attended Edwardsville High School, graduating in 1949. He was a member of the track and cross-country teams, setting records for speed at long distances, as well as active in the band. While at EHS, then Coach Joe Lucco had said of Harry: “He was either blowing his fool head off with his trumpet or running his feet off in track.” He wasn’t an honors student, but he was a standout, once putting a dead skunk in the high school’s ventilation system.
He married his high school girlfriend and together they had four children; three survive, including his son, Harry Richard (Desiree) Lewis III of Branson, Missouri, Ginger (Keith) Behrhorst of Hamel, and Judy (Les) Colyott of Troy. He is also survived by his sister-in-law, Donna Lewis of Edwardsville, his son-in-law Dale (Jenny) Perkins of Byhalia, Mississippi, 9 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, and 11 great-great-grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his parents, as well as his three siblings: Bob Lewis, Margaret (Lewis) Meier, and Sandy (Lewis) Romann, and his daughter, Jenny (Lewis) Perkins.
During his early career, he worked for the Woolworth Co. in the St. Louis area. He was transferred by the company to Corpus Christi, Texas to manage a store there in the early 1950s. It was there he studied business management at the University of Texas.
He returned to Edwardsville, managing two Woolworth stores before changing career directions in the early 1960s. He left to pursue contracting and real estate, eventually starting his own company, Lewis Realty. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, he joined a few other area musicians to form the Harry Lewis Orchestra. The band played in the bandstand at Edwardsville’s City Park, the Edwardsville Moose, and other area locations.
In the early 1980s, Harry moved to Alaska where he continued his real estate career. While living in Alaska, he enjoyed the outdoors as an avid hunter, fisherman, and hiker. He returned to Edwardsville in the late 1990s upon his retirement to spend time with family.
A graveside service led by Brother Henry Martin of Maryville Baptist Church will take place at 10 am Thursday, July 7, at St. Paul United Church of Christ Cemetery, 3277 Bluff Road in Edwardsville. Memorials and flower arrangements can be sent through Saksa Mateer Funeral Home of Edwardsville.
