Obituary of Wesley Eugene Lewis

Wesley Eugene Lewis died of heart failure due to esophageal cancer at the Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, at approximately 6 a.m., November 22, 2024, three weeks before his 81st birthday.

Wesley is preceded in death by his father, Dale Wesley Lewis (died: 2003) and his mother, Mable Ruth Lewis (Nee McFarland), who passed in 2019. Wesley is survived by his wife, Carole, his younger brother, Ronald Dale Lewis, and his childhood friend, David Guffey and his wife, Karen; by cousins Diane Lewis, JoAnn Lewis, Kirk Geist, Susan Jones, and Kathryn Breamer on the Lewis side, and Cay McCauley, Craig McFarland, and Mike McFarland on his mother's side.

Wes was born during World War II, when his father was serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps. The lyrics of a popular song of the day went, “Nothing can stop the Army Air Corps, not even Mable” and his mother, Mable, was indeed a force to be reckoned with. Dale was an airplane mechanic and never left the country. After the war, Dale and Mable returned to the Lewis home farm south of Villisca, Iowa, where Dale was raised, and a little brother, Ronald Dale Lewis, was born in 1946. “Wessie” and “Ronnie” had a near idyllic childhood with visits from cousins and close friends like Dave Guffey, a classmate and friend of Ron's since kindergarten, and doting parents, who somehow found the time and means for extensive road-trip vacations.

Wes attended Swisher school, a one-room country school a few miles from home, followed by high school in Villisca and junior college at Clarinda Community College (now Iowa Western). Wes was a brilliant student – straight As in chemistry, physics, and calculus! He was drafted and, after setting academic records in the Army's training, he was sent to Germany where he served as a quartermaster. Amazingly, his unit was the same as David Guffey's; he also was able to drive across Germany to visit Ron in his Army post. All three young men were thankful to have survived their generation's war: Vietnam.

After his Army days, Wes worked as a machinist at Lisle Corporation in Clarinda, applying his skill and attention to detail to make the company engineers' drawings come to life. He lived at home at the time and would throw his paychecks in a drawer rather than depositing them in the bank because his expenses were few and far between. Later, his wife Carole would tease him, “I thought you had a lot of money when I married you.” Wes replied dryly, “I did.”

In 1975, Wes was getting ready to go to a stock car race with Dave Guffey and his wife, who invited Carole Shell to join them. Wes and Carole soon got married and had a boy named Clinton, named after Carole's father. Mable and Dale helped through the years with Clinton's special needs.

The church played a big role in Wes and Carole's life. Carole had a career in publishing at the Clarinda Company, and she shared her writing and computer skills with the Advent Christian Church in Villisca. Wes built a variety of things for the church as needs arose. He also added food preparation to his list of interests and abilities. Wes and Carole helped to prepare Thanksgiving meals that the church made available to the needy.

Wes will be missed by the Villisca community and by family members in the Ames, Iowa, area; in Kansas City, Kansas; and in Opelika, Alabama, where his brother Ron and his wife, Robin, live.