Warren C. Lewis

Beloved husband, father, and grandfather, Warren Lewis, passed away peacefully on Saturday, May 21, 2011, surrounded by his loving family and pastor. He was born December 17, 1920 to Homer Merwyn and Alice Lillian Shopbell Lewis in Manhattan, Kansas—the younger, much loved brother of Ruth Katherine.

As the son of a Methodist minister, Warren moved numerous times throughout the state of Oklahoma. To help with family finances during the Depression, he worked in his father’s movie theater, the family café, and the family newspaper shop. When his father was assigned to a new church in Oklahoma City, Warren singlehandedly continued to publish the weekly paper while finishing his senior year of high school in Strong City, Oklahoma. After his high school graduation, Warren was a bicycle delivery person for a drugstore in Oklahoma City. The store’s motto was “deliveries anywhere in Oklahoma City for 20 cents.” Warren often said that the delivery job was his impetus for going to college. It would be two more years before he could save up enough money for college by working as a newspaper delivery person.

Warren began college at Oklahoma Agriculture and Mechanical College which later became Oklahoma State University in 1940 as an accounting major. “He never wanted to do anything else.” He attended college a semester and worked a semester to pay for his expenses. He graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1947. While attending OSU, he met the love of his life, a beautiful blonde named Lucille Griffith. They were married on May 8, 1943. In 1951, while living in Ponca City, Oklahoma, Warren and Luci were blessed with a baby boy, Barry, and in 1962, while living in Casper, Wyoming, the family joyously welcomed a baby girl, Ruthayn.

Warren began working for Conoco Oil Company after attending graduate school in accounting at OSU, working for the Oklahoma State Highway Department, and harvesting wheat from Texas to the Canadian border. While at Conoco, he was employed as an accountant, an analyst in the field production offices, and an auditor for offshore drilling rigs. Warren’s job required his family to move at a moment’s notice to tiny oilfield settlements and cities through Oklahoma, Wyoming, Colorado, and finally to Ventura, California. After over thirty years with Conoco, Warren retired to enjoy time with his beloved Luci.

Warren and Luci loved to boat, camp, and hunt. The family spent many happy vacations on Yellowstone Lake and at their property on the side of Mt. Shasta. Warren loved sports cars, fast boats, and traveling around his dearly loved United States in several different motor homes. He and Luci belonged to several camping clubs over the years which toured the Southwest. They also enjoyed traveling outside of the United States, making trips to Russia, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Iceland, and Europe. Warren’s favorite trip was a family vacation to Luci’s family’s ancestral home in Ireland with his son, daughter in law, and three of his grandchildren.

Warren was very active in the many communities in which he lived. As a descendant of fourteen generations of Methodist and Quaker minister’s father to son, he was an involved and faithful member of the Methodist Church in whatever community he lived. In Ventura he attended both College United Methodist Church and First United Methodist Church. Warren and Luci were among the founding members of Poinsettia Gardens in Ventura, the first planned modular home community in California. He was a proud member for fifty-three years of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Wyoming.

Warren is survived by Luci, his wife of sixty-eight years; son, Barry Lewis (wife, Kathy); daughter, Ruthayn Fetterholf; and grandchildren, Geoffrey Lewis, Caitlin Lewis, Matthew Lewis, Kurtis DeDios, Megan Fetterholf, and Shane Fetterholf.

The family wishes to thank the pulmonologists and ICU nurses at Community Memorial Hospital, as well as Reverend Chuck Simmons and Reverend Mary Birgelaitis, for their compassionate care and support.

In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the Endowment Fund of the Ventura First United Methodist Church.

A private family graveside service was held on Friday, June 3, at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park, 5400 Valentine Road, Ventura.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 11, 11:00 A.M. at First United Methodist Church, 1338 E. Santa Clara Avenue, Ventura.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Ted Mayr Funeral Home. Condolences may be left at TedMayrFuneralHome.com.