Mrs. Evelyn L. Lewis' Obituary
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. - Psalm 23
Our beloved matriarch, Mrs. Evelyn L. Lewis, entered into eternal rest on January 4, 2023.
Her life will be celebrated on Thursday, January 12, 2023, 4 p.m. at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church, 3015 N. MacGregor Way, 77004. Visitation will be prior to service, 3 - 4 p.m.
For livestream access to her service: https://goodhope.org/
In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations be made to Interfaith Care Partners: https://form-renderer-app.donorperfect.io/give/interfaith-carepartners/22general
Memo: ‘In Memory of Evelyn L. Lewis’
Evelyn Lawler was born in Gadsden, Alabama, on October 18, 1929. She was the sixth of nine children. Growing up in Gadsden, Evelyn spent a lot of time outdoors with her brothers and sisters. She was really skinny and everyone called her Chicken Legs.
Early in high school, she was not selected for the track team, but Evelyn used to say that not being picked lit a fire in her. When she finally did make the team, she ended up beating everyone else in a practice race. During her senior year she competed in a meet at Tuskegee Institute. After watching her, Tuskegee head coach Major Cleveland L. Abbott asked her to return there for college and to be on his team.
Evelyn’s father didn’t think women needed a college education. But Evelyn was determined – and she became the first person in her family to attend college.
Evelyn succeeded both in the classroom and on the track. She made the honor roll her first semester, which quieted her father’s doubts.
On the track, she became the number-one hurdler, and she later went to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the first Pan American Games (1951). The trip almost didn’t happen because travel money had to be raised – but things worked out. Evelyn would later say: “Who would have thought that a skinny little black girl from Gadsden would have traveled to Buenos Aires and even met Evita Peron.”
Evelyn later broke the American Record for the 80-meter hurdles and had her sights set on Helsinki, Finland, for the 1952 Olympic Games. Unfortunately, she was injured before the Olympic trials and didn’t make the team. But she at least had a nice keepsake her family would always treasure: a beautiful action photo of her in the June 30, 1952, Olympic issue of Life Magazine.
Evelyn played some basketball and tennis, too. She even once played a tennis match against the great Althea Gibson. She said that didn’t go too well for her.
Tuskegee also gave Evelyn the love of her life. Fellow student, William McKinley Lewis Jr. was from Chicago. He played football and was a sprinter on the track team. They got married soon after Evelyn graduated and initially moved to Chicago to live near Bill’s family. During that time Evelyn decided to return to school in pursuit of her Master’s degree in Physical Education. She became the first African-American to earn a Master’s from MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois.
Evelyn and Bill later took teaching jobs in Alabama and initially settled in Montgomery. Their first two sons, William McKinley “Mack” Lewis III and Cleveland “Cleve” Abbott Lewis, named after Evelyn’s college coach, were born in 1954 and 1955. Frederick Carlton “Carl” Lewis and Carol Legrant Lewis came in Birmingham in 1961 and 1963.
In Alabama, the big events of the time centered on the civil rights movement, and Evelyn and Bill were right in the middle of it. They participated in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and provided support to Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and his family. The Lewis family attended Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, which was Rev. King’s first church. It was there that Rev. King baptized Mack and Cleve. The Lewis’s subsequently moved to Birmingham where the civil-rights confrontations continued.
There were countless everyday race-related issues. Evelyn would never forget the local amusement park that would not allow blacks. Wanting to shield Mack and Cleve from constantly seeing a place they could never attend, Evelyn always took the long way home so she didn’t have to keep explaining why they couldn’t go there. Evelyn hated having to do that.
Still, that was nothing compared to other sacrifices. For example, a young cousin was involved in an ugly confrontation between marchers and the police, who had the help of vicious dogs and powerful fire hoses. “This was a tough time, a time of sacrifice,” Evelyn said. “But if we wanted to make things better, we had to sacrifice.”
Evelyn later made a trip to visit her younger sister, Freddie George, in New Jersey. While there she interviewed for a teaching job that would provide more opportunity. Evelyn got the job and returned to Alabama with a renewed sense of hope.
Carol was soon born and two weeks later the Lewis family moved to Willingboro, New Jersey. It was a huge change – moving from a segregated black community to a predominantly white one. The Lewis’s were among the first black families in Willingboro (Levittown) but felt welcomed.
The timing of the move also proved to be fortunate because on September 15th – only a few weeks after the family relocated to Willingboro – its former church was targeted with a deadly act of hatred. The 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed and four of Mack and Cleve’s former playmates lost their lives.
In New Jersey, the family settled into a new life that allowed Mack and Cleve to attend an integrated school and to play sports right along with everyone else. Evelyn began teaching at Kennedy High School as one of the first Black teachers in the district. Her love of teaching was immediately evident and she began to suggest programs and changes that would affect things for all girls in Willingboro.
Evelyn began by coaching field hockey. (Track and field would come later.) She also enjoyed helping with the band and was the Pom-Pom girl advisor. She introduced Scarlet & Navy, a program which highlighted the athletic and dance skills of the students. Scarlet & Navy became a major part of the school calendar and the students practiced for months. When Evelyn could not talk the principal into starting a track program for girls, she and Bill started one of their own. The Willingboro Track Club (WTC) was formed in 1969.
Evelyn thoroughly enjoyed her students and loved her role as a mentor. She never hesitated to give her students a sometimes-not-so-gentle push when she felt they needed it. Her students generally found her to be firm, but fair.
Evelyn’s love of sports and teaching remained strong throughout her entire career. She retired in 1985. One of her fondest memories was whenever she taught a second-generation student. She always laughed and said she knew a student would be good whenever she had already taught one of their parents. Another favorite memory was her championship track teams.
Willingboro Track Club started with a dozen or so girls, the youngest of them nine-year-olds, with two practices a week. Before long, some boys wanted in, and they were accepted, too. Mack was already excelling as a sprinter, and Cleve was fast as well, but soccer became his sport.
Taking Carl and Carol to the track saved baby-sitting money, so they naturally became interested in track and field. The long-jump pit was their baby-sitter. Sometimes Carl and Carol tried to imitate the drills everyone else was doing. But most of the time they just played in the sand, building castles in the pit, then smashing them while their parents were busy with their athletes.
Those early days with the Willingboro Track Club were so enjoyable and meaningful for Evelyn. Everyone was invited to join no matter his or her talent level. To Evelyn, everyone was family. Sometimes money was tight but Evelyn and Bill made it work. And that small club led the Lewis family to an amazing international sports journey – a journey that just kept going and growing.
Evelyn had no Idea that her Olympic dreams would become her children’s as well. As Carl and Carol started making national teams and competing internationally, Evelyn and Bill followed them every step of the way: beaming with pride… supporting them and cheering them on … but Evelyn was never shy about letting her children know if she was not happy with the way they carried themselves. Everyone knew and loved “Mrs. Lewis” – and Evelyn loved her title of “Road Mom.”
Of course, things changed dramatically for Evelyn in 1987, when the family lost Bill to cancer. Traveling would never again be the same without Bill being part of it. Fortunately, though, the Santa Monica Track Club (SMTC) was still there for Evelyn – and her sister Freddie often joined her on the road as well.
Evelyn became the official team Mom for the SMTC family. On the road, usually somewhere in Europe, Evelyn always made sure everyone’s clothes were washed and that everyone had a home-cooked meal. For anyone who had never been exposed to grits, Evelyn served up a new taste on the international track circuit.
Years later, Evelyn ended up doing some more training and competing of her own. She began participating in the Senior Olympics, and she did that well into her sixties. After starting as a sprinter and long jumper, she closed out her senior “career” as a discus thrower and shot putter. Evelyn always wanted to try something new – and it was pretty amazing to watch.
In 1996, Carl and Carol actually got to run with Evelyn as part of a relay. This was not a competition. But it was the most publicized relay on the planet: the ceremonial torch relay in advance of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. What an honor that was for three Lewis’s to participate together as the torch passed through Houston. They ran consecutive legs as torchbearers: Carol was first, Carl second, then Evelyn.
But Evelyn did not run her leg alone. Carol and Carl ran right along with Evelyn – one on each side of her – and she might as well have been running in the actual Olympics. That’s how excited she was: a smile plastered across her face as people shouted encouragement and television cameras recorded her every step.
That look on her face – that absolute joy – will never really go away. All four Lewis children were so incredibly proud of their Mom. Same as they are today. Same as they always will be.
After her retirement, Evelyn received numerous awards and accolades and continued to travel the world and spend time with her family. She was especially proud of her grandchildren Bakim, Arden, and Cole and her one greatgrandchild Saphire. They all were lucky enough to hear many of their Grandmother’s stories from years past.
Evelyn’s legacy has long been assured. She turned 90 a few years back and the family invited people to send a card or a note. The response was absolutely amazing. The Lewis children glued every card into a set of books. It took a lot longer than they thought it would, but the joy Evelyn found in reading those cards over and over would stay with them for the rest of their lives.
The messages to Evelyn were also a joy for her children to read. To know that their mother had touched so many lives was extremely powerful. While Evelyn struggled with dementia in her final years, her memories of her children and of her teaching years always remained remarkably clear. What a blessing that was.
Evelyn was never loud or boisterous.
She was always elegant, kind, loyal, and strong.
Her children will always smile when they think of their Mom carrying that Olympic torch back in 1996. That physical torch is now theirs.
But that is not the only passing of a torch. There is also the figurative one: a beautiful legacy of learning and of loving…. of passion and of purpose… of serving others and of making a difference in this world.
Thanks to Evelyn, the Lewis family will proudly carry that one for generations to come.
In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations be made to Interfaith Care Partners: https://form-renderer-app.donorperfect.io/give/interfaith-carepartners/22general
Memo: ‘In Memory of Evelyn L. Lewis’
What’s your fondest memory of Evelyn?
What’s a lesson you learned from Evelyn?
Share a story where Evelyn's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Evelyn you’ll never forget.
How did Evelyn make you smile?