There will be a family visitation at the funeral home on Wednesday evening 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the Memorial Park Funeral Home. Funeral services will be at The Church at Quail Creek on Tascosa Road in Amarillo on Thursday, June 21, 2018 as 12:30 p.m., followed by Graveside services at Memorial Park Cemetery in Amarillo. Arrangements are by Memorial Park Funeral Home, 6969 E. Interstate 40.
Mrs. Lewis was born April 28, 1932, to Harvey and Nora Patterson in Wheeler County. She attended Sandy Basin School and graduated from Wheeler High School. She worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone, and met her husband of 56 years, James Thomas Lewis, in a late night operator call the young handsome U.S.A.F. had made. They married October 29, 1953.
She was a lifelong devoted Christian and was a member of The Church at Quail Creek. She leaves a legacy of love and care for all her family. She taught us all the power of prayer, the Constance of God’s love and presence, and to be sure to tithe even form your garage sale earnings. This, she and Dad did without fail, for all the years of their lives. Our home was a strong and loving home where helping others was part of every day’s intentions. Mom volunteered in every capacity in school and in church that she was able. She was awarded Lifetime Membership in the PTA, having served a number of years both locally and regionally. She volunteered in quilting and made clothes for a 6 foot Raggedy Ann and Andy at the Ronald McDonald House for families of stricken children. She delighted in helping others in the Prayer Room at church, and in the Food Kitchen that her church helped sponsor. She drove 200 miles round trip to Wheeler every Monday for years, never missing, to visit her mother in the Care Center there. Mom was more talented than most would ever know. She could stretch a dollar bill farther than any one, and made sure bills were paid and there was always food on the table. Mom was an organizer! So organized, that if some bookkeeper from a utility company got in touch to say that a bill had not been covered 17 years ago, mom could go straight to the specific cardboard file box, find and present them with the proof that they were incorrect, and she would not be paying them a cent more, NO SIR! Mom really did have eyes in the back of her head! A blessing God gave her knowing that with her five kiddos she would need them. We didn’t get away much. If we were to err, on occasion, there was no waiting till Dad got home, not one bit! We knew right then and there that we were in trouble. If not in earshot, the look she could give us let us know in an instant we had better pack for that trip to the woodshed, or to the next county; or into next week!
She was preceded in death by her loving husband Jim on November 12, 2009, and her loving daughter-in-law Tracey early in 2018. She was the last remaining survivor of her immediate family including her parents, 2 sisters, and 2 brothers.Survivors include a son, jimmy Lewis of Amarillo, and 4 daughters: Contessa Skelton and husband Greg of Austin. Teresa Hook and husband Denzil of Amarillo, Mary Handley and husband Mark of Alvarado, Texas, and Amy Waite and husband Bard of Portland, Texas. She is survived by 17 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren, and 7 great-great-grandchildren. She was Aunt Floy Belle to 9 nieces and nephews.
Our heartfelt thanks to the staff at Legacy Rehabilitation & Living Center and to Amarillo Hospice of the Plains-Open Heart, for all their loving care of our precious mom. Any memorials can be made to The Church at Quail Creek (801 Tascosa Road in Amarillo), legacy Rehabilitation & Living Center (4033 West 51st Street Amarillo), or to Amarillo hospice of the Plains-Open Heart in Amarillo (508 N Taylor in Amarillo).
