Column: A poignant farewell at the Catholic church along Village Drive

Hardy Lewis would remind those gathered in this spacious sanctuary about the father he and his brothers loved and held close to their hearts for all their lives. 

“We’re here to remember Dick Lewis, and I want to pause at that word remember,” he said. “He would want me to stress that to remember does not mean to mourn — today or any other day.”

He could see in his mind’s eye his father’s smile, and a father’s laughter. 

“Everyone here knows that’s the way he would want it to be,” Hardy Lewis, 59, told those who came Thursday to bid their farewells at the funeral Mass for Richard “Dick” Lewis Jr. at St. Patrick Catholic Church along Village Drive. 

Richard Mullington (Dick) Lewis Jr. died Feb. 22. 

He was 90. 

Hardy Lewis reminded us of his father’s passion for becoming a lawyer because Dick Lewis never could turn his back on someone who needed a voice. About his father’s belief in leaving this community better than he found it. His gratitude to those Catholic men from Sacred Heart Church Whiteville in the 1930s and 1940s who took an interest in a young man and helped him enroll at Notre Dame. A father’s joy in passing along a good joke of humor. His father’s love of Toby and Baloo, the adopted mutts from the Fayetteville Animal Protection Society whom Dick Lewis adorned. And Dick Lewis’ love for a wife of 55 years and a father’s love and devotion to their mother. His appreciation for friends who were there for him after her passing to include Joe and Carol Quigg, Joanne Copeland, Suzanne Uzzell, George Binder, Ricky Evans, John Herrman, Poleshka Maxwell, Kathryn Crumpler, Bill Wiggs, David Hedgecoe, Melene Hatcher and Kathryn Thompson.

“The day before yesterday was Linda Lewis’ 84th birthday, the seventh since she passed,” Hardy Lewis reminded us of his mother, who died at age 77 on Sept. 1, 2018. “On the previous six, my brothers and I would make sure to call Pa to remember her.

“You couldn’t help but feel her absence as he talked about how deeply he missed her.

“I’m glad,” he said, “he doesn’t have to miss her any longer.”

‘I’ve taken my leave’

Dick Lewis would take this day of goodbye from there.

“You honor me with your presence today, and the fact that you’re here means you’ve learned that I’ve finally made my way back to my ‘maker,’” Father David Noone, 82, read in what he and Lewis’ sons Richard Lewis, Frank Lewis, Hardy Lewis and David Lewis creatively imagined what Dick Lewis would say. “After 90 years on this earth — more than most people get — I’ve taken my leave.

“Psalm 103 reminds us that the Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love. If he extends that mercy to me, then I’ll soon be catching up with old classmates, reunited with my family, and at long last, getting to know the father whose name I bear but whom I never had the chance to truly know, as he left this life far too soon after I arrived. 

“Now don’t get me wrong. I hated leaving all of you and the places I loved.

“But I trust that the same God who walked me through all these years,” Dick Lewis wanted us to know, “is walking with you still.”

Dick Lewis, through the priest’s reading of this poignant and emotional and unique eulogy, reminded us that he was born Jan. 15, 1935, and that his father died suddenly, leaving his mother and grandmother to raise him and his siblings in Columbus County. He said they helped him to be the man he would become. 

“They instilled in me three things that carried me through life,” Dick Lewis said through the priest’s words. “Faith, humor and resilience.”

We were reminded of Dick Lewis’ high school prowess on the football field, and where athletic scholarship offers would come his way. 

“My mother had the final say,” he said. “When she learned I had been accepted to the University of Notre Dame, even without an athletic scholarship, that settled it. I was going to Notre Dame. It was where I made lifelong friends and deepened a faith that would guide me for the rest of my life.

“Above one of the side doors of the Sacred Heart Basilica at Notre Dame, three words are inscribed: ‘God, Family, Country.’ Those words became kind of a mantra for me. Faith came first. I loved my parish and always felt closest to God while worshipping here at St. Pat’s with so many of you. Family followed closely behind. And then, of course, country. After graduating from Notre Dame (class of 1957), I joined the Navy and spent three years heroically keeping the beaches of Virginia safe from foreign invasion.”

Dick Lewis, through a priest’s and sons’ memories, reminded us that his father and grandfather were lawyers, and their respective legal careers resonated with him. 

“So, after my time in the Navy, I headed to law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,” we learned. “And it was there, on the steps of the library, that I met Linda Hardy, the woman who would become my wife for 55 years. So, let it be known, studying at the library can actually pay off.”

A devoted husband and father

Dick Lewis said in 2018 the UNC coed who was studying psychology would become the love of his life. 

“I thought she was very attractive,” he said, “with a great personality.”

Their first date was at the N.C. State Fair in Raleigh, and a courtship would blossom into marriage Dec. 27, 1962, at Sacred Heart Cathedral Church in her hometown of Richmond, Virginia. The couple would settle here in September of 1963 in a small starter home in the Eutaw neighborhood. They would begin a family and rear four sons.

“Reuniting with Linda will be one of the great joys of heaven,” Dick Lewis wanted us to know on this day of farewell. “God blessed Linda and me with four sons — Richard, Hardy, David and Frank. People often joked that I showed more pictures of my dogs than my boys. Well, in my defense, they were very photogenic dogs. But my sons know that each of them brought more joy and love into my life than they’ll ever fully realize.”

Those seated in the sanctuary pews could almost see the old lawyer offering a closing summation of what Dick Lewis wanted them to know. 

They felt his presence.

At the foot of the cross

“I have no doubt that my purpose” in life, Dick Lewis wanted us to know, was to serve God and his fellow man. “I loved the law, not just as a profession, but as a calling. It taught me to listen, to respect all kinds of people and to see them not merely as clients, but as neighbors, friends and people in need of genuine service. And so, I practiced law until the age of 85, never quite able to walk away from what had given me so much purpose.”

We learned the law was just a part of his life. 

“I found joy in serving my community and tending my lawn,” Dick Lewis wanted us to know, and living his life at the foot of the Christian cross.

His community service included legal counsel for the Fayetteville Public Works Commission and the Airborne and Special Operations Museum; president of the Greater Fayetteville Chamber; president of the Kiwanis Club of Fayetteville; president of United Way of Cumberland County; and as legal counsel for his beloved St. Patrick Catholic Church, where he worshipped more than 60 years.

His lawn was immaculate. 

His faith in his Lord and savior was unconditional and without reservation.

“God made me to know him, love him, serve him in this life,” he wanted us to know, “and to be happy with him forever in heaven.”

Dick Lewis wanted all to know that he tried his best in life, and that he gave thought to a health procedure that could extend his life beyond the diagnosis of leukemia that weakened his body, but not his spirits or another humorous joke to share.

“One more summer with the dogs and the boys,” Dick Lewis wanted us to know, “and maybe even in that order.”

We felt his humor. 

We felt his presence. 

And we learned from Dick Lewis that on the morning of Feb. 22, God was by his side.

“I heard him clearly call,” Dick Lewis wanted us to know. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. And so, at 9:38 last Saturday morning, I knew it was time to let go. And I did.”

Tears streamed from the faces of those listening in the pews. 

“As I sign off from this world and step into the next, know that I tried to live a life filled with faith, laughter and deep appreciation for the people I was privileged to know,” Dick Lewis wanted us to know from the 82-year-old priest’s words. “In return, I hope you’ll remember me with a smile, a joke and most important, a prayer or two. When Linda died, I arranged for a candle to be lit for her at Our Lady’s Grotto on the campus of the University of Notre Dame. This morning, candles were lit for both of us at that same grotto.”

Epilogue

To remember, Hardy Lewis told us on this day of farewell, Catholic communion and benediction commendation, but not a day to mourn. And he would offer gratefulness on behalf of himself and his brothers who loved a father so dear. 

And from Dick Lewis, a priest would say, to those who took the time. 

“You honor me with your presence today,” Dick Lewis wanted all to know.

Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.

We’re in our third year of CityView Today, and so many of you have been with us from day one in our efforts to bring the news of the city, county, community and Cape Fear region each day. We’re here with a purpose — to deliver the news that matters to you.