CHRIS LEWIS’ SUDDEN PASSING STUNS LIONS AND COMMUNITY

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

GRAVENHURST — Flags were at half staff here as McDonald’s staff mourned the loss of their beloved manager who died suddenly last Monday.

Chris Lewis had just returned from hospital in Toronto where he’d begun radiation and chemotherapy care after learning weeks before that he had a rare form of thyroid cancer, when he passed away in hospital after complications at home following a tracheotomy as part of his treatment.

He was just 52.

And a lion in the Lions Club — locally and internationally — for 22 years.

“Very profoundly saddening,” said long-time friend Dave Reid, who wed his wife, Sheri, minutes after Lewis and his wife, Marjorie, did the same at the United Church in Gravenhurst.

“We had to wait for them before we got married. So each year I give Marjorie a kiss and wish her happy anniversary.”

“So bloody sad.”

“A shining star in our club, a tribute to our club,” said fellow friend and current Lions president Gord McNeice who called him a great loss to the community.

“We’re all the better for having him in our club.”

Lewis, who publicly and prodigiously chronicled his brief illness in many moving and poignant Facebook posts this month from home and in hospital, was “always positive, always helping people, advocating for others,” said McNeice.

An ebullient personality, “he was was so full of joie de vivre.

“He was never ‘poor me.’”

Lion Chris Lewis lived a great, full life and gave to others — and that’s all one can ask, said fellow Lion Gord McNeice in one of many tributes to the Gravenhurst community leader who died last Monday, Jan. 18.

Even in hospital, Lewis was “profiling other people,” said McNeice.

Giving shout-outs to his “caregiver of the day.”

“He always saw the good in others.”

Len Day, another friend and fellow past Lions district governor, who drove Lewis to Sunnybrook Hospital for his final treatment — and was to take him back today — said they laughed and joked during the three-hour return trip.

He said they talked about how they could help more people during COVID.

Lewis was already helping Lions provide coffee and treats and PPE for health-care workers.

Day said “food uncertainty” was but one of Lewis’ favourite causes, including doing a recent cash-drive for the Salvation Army.

“He truly believed in the Lions motto of making peoples lives better.

“He was very proud of the work Lions do. He made sure they got things they needed — and didn’t want to take credit for it. He always said it was the club’s doing.”

Chris Lewis went to Sunnybrook last Monday and talked with his good friend and driver Len Day about how Lions could help during COVID. He died later that night at home, at age 52.

Lewis “did everything” in the club, said McNeice — president, secretary, treasurer … — and more.

He even Zoomed in to the club’s January meeting offering a positive picture and update on is journey, said McNeice.

Lewis also climbed the Lions ladder to district governor (2013-14) of the 40 clubs in A-12 — in line with other distinguished Gravenhurst Lions in the past.

McNeice said Lewis “could talk to people on the street” about Lions “and to others at the international level” where he became a trainer for other district governors.

It gave him and his wife a chance to travel, which they loved, and did a lot of throughout Canada and the United States.

Lewis was the Lions’ Ontario and Maritimes lead training, leadership, mentoring and membership representative.

But it was at home, first, where Lewis’ local legacy will be most profoundly felt through events like the annual May Lions Day, where members are encouraged to do random acts of kindness, which he began and his initiation has since been taken up by other Lions districts.

In 2019, before COVID, the club members set up a barbecue at the YIG to give out hot dogs in thanks to the community.

Lewis went further, promoting Lionism by taking on membership and leadership roles in the club nationally and internationally.

That’s how Day first met Lewis.

“We were on global action teams and we complemented each other.

“You couldn’t find a better person. Everything about him, his organizational skills, his congenial demeanour was class.”

Lewis was “always about hands-on service.”

The pair helped charter the Baxter Lions club in Georgian Bay last year.

Whether it was locally or internationally, Chris Lewis, left, was a leader in mentoring and promoting Lions. He was able to speak to people on the street or at the global level about Lionism, said friend Dave Reid.

Day, who is with the Barrie South Lions, said Lewis convinced him to take on the district governorship a second time. They talked regularly over the years — often weekly.

Lionism roars through their families.

Day’s son, Zach, is with the Barrie club and Lewis’ daughter, Jess, is with the Gravenhurst club and the couple are engaged not only in Lions but in life, too.

Lewis’ wife Marjorie is also a past Gravenhurst club president.

Their son, Jonathan, lives in Ottawa where he, too, is active supporting Lions there.

Reid said Lewis was a big Blue Jays fan and they often travelled to Toronto for the baseball team’s home openers where they enjoyed sampling local suds.

“He’d fly here, there and everywhere to talk about Lions. He had a knack for speaking.”

“At 52 he lived more than most people do in 102 years,” said McNeice.

“What more can you expect in life,” added McNeice, “than to live well and help people.”

Condolences for Lewis have poured in from Lions across the country, the U.S. and world.

And Facebook was full of tributes and messages for the family, which has raised more than $10,000 for the Lions foundation — double its goal.

Lewis also donated his eyes, a fitting tribute to his work in Lions, as they are ‘Knights of the Blind.’

A celebration of life is expected later this year, perhaps at the Lion’s Lookout Park that the Lewis’ were instrumental in improving.

And when the Lions hold their next Zoom meeting, the first Tuesday in February, Lewis will be there in spirit, if not larger than life.

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