Edmund L. Lewis

February 17, 1920 - July 19, 2009

Edmund L. Lewis Obituary (Age 89) Died on July 19, 2009. Edmund moved to Spokane in 1990; he founded and was president of the Senior Legislative Coalition of Eastern Washington. He was a former member of the Planning and Management Council of Aging and Long Term Care of Eastern Washington, chairman of the SHIBA, Washington State Insurance Advisory Committee, and on the Board of Directors of the Senior Lobby in Olympia. He has been active on the federal, state and local political scene, organizing statewide senior political groups in both California and Washington State. Edmund was born on February 17, 1920 in New York City. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Gallatin Lewis Jr. who owned the Hansoms (one-horse carriages) that ran from the Plaza Hotel through Central Park. He won major letters in track and baseball at Morris High School and a scholarship to City College of New York where he again won major letters in track. Edmund went to work for the Bronx Home News and then worked up from copy boy to Military and Aviation editor of the New York Daily News. He then moved west to attend the University of Arizona where he received his B.A. and M.S degrees in English. He was elected president of Hopi Hall, and earned membership in Bobcats, the senior men's honorary society, and Phi Delta Kappa, men's education honorary. After leaving school, he worked at radio stations KPHO (Phoenix) and KTAR (Tucson) as a writer and announcer. He was a reporter at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix. He then took up teaching and taught elementary and high school. He later became County School Superintendent in Wavapai County, Arizona. He then relocated to California where he was a journalism and English instructor at Delta College in Stockton. The school newspaper won top honors from Missouri and Columbia Universities. In 1961, the State Office of Emergency Preparedness offered him the position of Director of Emergency Information. He spent almost four years in this position and wrote the California State Plan for the Emergency Broadcast System and for the teacher/student emergency actions in schools. He was Deputy Director of the California School Boards Association from 1964 until 1982 when he retired. On July 8, 1950, he married Alice (Pfunder) Lewis, a registered nurse, from Grosse Point, Michigan. He is survived by his wife, four children and six grandchildren. Mark S. Lewis and his wife, Linda, from Modesto, CA; Anne I. Lewis from Sonoma, CA; Albert P. Lewis and his wife, Frances, from Chicago, IL; and Peter B. Lewis and his wife, Bridget, from Clarkston, WA. He was preceded in death by his brother Alton Lewis. There are six grandchildren: Alexander E. F. Lewis, Katherine M. I. Lewis, Maxwell C. Lewis, Chole E, Lewis, Scott M. Lewis and Sara J. Lewis. Remembrances and donations may be given to organizations of your choice representing the following diseases; diabetes, heart, cancer, and fibromyalgia....he had them all, but could still laugh. A private burial service was held.