George Kenneth Lewis

Dad was Born to Henry Lewis and Mirttie Irene Lewis April 13, 1925 in Greeley, Colorado. His family, which included his brother Floyd and sister Betty, lived on a farm near Sterling, Colorado. They lived there during the crash of 1929, the Great Depression and the dust bowl of the early 1930’s.

One of Dad’s childhood memories was the one room schoolhouse he went to, which doubled as a Sunday School and sometimes a church meeting place for the traveling preacher.

The family farm was sold when Dad was 13 years old and they moved to Denver, where he finished growing up. Living in the city was quite a change for a boy who had spent his life on the farm. As was typical of our Dad he made the best of things, by going to work to help the family, while still going to school.

When Dad was 17, WWII was still raging and he wanted to join the service, but his parents wouldn’t sign the release that was necessary for someone that young to join. His school advisor helped him sign up for the Army Signal Corp training, which he did until he was 18 and could join the Army. He was moved to Craig, CO for the last 6 months of training. This is where he met the love of his life, Ruth Woodbury, while she was “jerking sodas” at the local drug store. Dad spent the last year of the War in Northern Africa serving in the US Army Air Corp., in communications.

After coming home from the service, George and Ruth were married in Craig on September 11, 1946. They started their family in 1951, when their first daughter Linda was born. Daughters Laurie (Fred) Gonzales, Lexie (Greg) Foster and Lisa (Dave) Bachman were born over the next 10 years. His four girls gave him 7 grandsons, Steve (Tammie) Booker, Aaron (Courtney) Booker, Kyle Foster, Ian (Christine) Foster, Nick (Alicia) Gonzales, Nathan Gonzales, Trevor Bachman, 14 great grandchildren and twin great great grand babies. A special person in our family’s life is JoAnn Martinez who has become one of the family, in the past 5 years.

Dad was a bookkeeper for many years, and at age 36 began his career as a State Farm Insurance agent for the next 33 years. During those years, he volunteered in his community for organizations such as;

4-H, the Sheriff’s Posse, the Craig Chamber of Commerce, the Veteran’s Honor Guard and the Hospital Board.

After our Mom passed away Dad, at age 82, moved to Grand Junction and lived there for 14 years. He joined the Grand Valley Combined Honor Guard in 2008 and participated in over 1400 military services, during the next 11 years. He was active in Northeast Christian Church for several years.

Dad would describe himself as a “jack of all trades and a master of none.” Those of us who knew him best, knew that he was a master of many things, including being a loving husband, father and grand father.

Our Dad would tell you that he had a great life and he made sure all of us did as well. Along with our Mom, our Dad will be greatly missed by all of us and many others whose lives he touched in his 97 years.

There will be a military service, June 10, 2022 at 1:00 at the Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 2830 Riverside Pkwy, Grand Junction CO

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to one of Dad’s favorite organizations;

The Grand Valley Combined Honor Guard P.O. Box 4438 Grand Junction, CO 81503

HopeWest - Hospice 3090 N 12th ST Grand Junction, CO 81506