Jurdene Gentry Lewis

Jurdene Gentry Lewis, 94, a Jones County, Texas, native who lived most of her life in the Hodges Community, passed away Thursday, March 9 in San Angelo. She will be remembered in graveside services at 10 a.m. Monday, March 20, at Midway Cemetery in Hodges.

Jurdene lived her formative years in Hodges and retired there after motherhood and a professional career in Midland. Born June 10, 1928, to Jurdon H. Gentry and Edna Camp in Hodges, she graduated from Anson High School in 1944 and held summer wartime jobs at Camp Barkeley before attending Hardin-Simmons University for a semester.

She then went to work in the billing department for West Texas Utility Co. and worked there until 1950. She married John Bracken Lewis of Sweetwater on Sept. 4, 1949, in Abilene’s University Baptist Church. They lived in Abilene until 1953 when they moved to Midland. She and her husband had two sons, Preston Lewis and Marc Lewis, and were members of Calvary Baptist Church and then First Baptist Church while they lived in Midland.

In 1956 she resumed her career at Western Co., working in the key punch department for the oil well servicing company. She then worked for the City of Midland, again in key punch, before moving to the Permian Co. where she headed the key punch department from 1960-71, when she retired. Upon returning to Jones County in 1976, John and Jurdene Lewis became members of Abilene’s Pioneer Drive Baptist Church, where she was popular at potluck dinners for her chocolate, coconut and caramel cream pies.

She and her husband put their sons through Baylor University. As a family, they loved traveling, fishing, hunting and camping out. In addition to traveling, her hobbies included sewing, crocheting, painting, gardening and cooking. Most of all, she enjoyed her family, which gradually expanded to four grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

As matron of a family of boys, she welcomed Harriet Irene Kocher of State College, Pa., and Lee Ann Jolly of Midland into the family as daughters-in-law. Preston and Harriet Lewis of San Angelo would become parents of Scott Bracken Lewis, who married Celeste Alane Sunderland, and Melissa Irene Lewis, who married John Andrew Kemp. Marc and Lee Ann Lewis of Waco would become the parents of Lauren Michelle Lewis, who married Daniel Steward, and Jason Michael Lewis, who married Kelly Lynn McTavish. Her grandchildren came to call her “Gamma,” her treasured new name for more than 45 years.

Her great-grandchildren were Hannah Alane Lewis, James Aidan Steward, Avery Kate Steward, Cora Belle Kemp, Miriam Faith Lewis, Carys Anne Kemp, Jackson Josiah Kemp and Hudson Marshall Lewis, as well as the late Benjamin Scott Lewis. She is also survived by her sister-in-law Nina Gentry of Sun City West, Ariz. In addition to her great grandson, she was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Morgan Gentry, her sister Frances Wilson Klempnauer and her husband of 70 years.

Jurdene Gentry Lewis was a loving wife, a caring mother, a supportive mother-in-law and a doting grandmother and great grandmother. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials in her name be made to Pioneer Drive Baptist Church of Abilene or Baptist Retirement Center in San Angelo.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.elliott-hamil.com for the Lewis family.