Lewis remembered as community leader

Lynwood Lewis is being remembered as a civic leader, as a family man who loved Hartsville and for his leadership of the Butler Heritage Foundation.

Lewis, chairman of the Butler Heritage Foundation Board of Directors, died Sunday at the Medical University of South Carolina after an illness. He had just turned 63-years-old on Oct. 18.

As the foundation’s board chairman, Lewis led the effort to raise money for the restoration and preservation of the Butler High School campus as a community center in Hartsville. He played a key role in the effort to have a study done by Clemson University on the redevelopment of the campus as a community center and the Sixth Street corridor.
Lewis was honored on July 2 during Butler Heritage Week activities with a proclamation designating that day as Lynwood Lewis Day in Hartsville in recognition of his work with the foundation.

Hartsville Mayor David McFarland called Lewis’ passing a tremendous loss for the community.

“He was such a community-oriented person,” McFarland said. “He worked tirelessly with the Butler Heritage Foundation. It was his vision to see that project through to fruition and to see that whole campus become a community center.”

McFarland said Lewis was also a family-oriented man.

“His legacy will be the Butler project,” the mayor said. “He really cared about that project and this community. He knew the benefits of that project and what it will do for the South Hartsville community.”

Sen. Gerald Malloy said Lewis personified the idea that the success of a community lies in the strength of individuals.

“That success depends in great measure on the lives of individuals in that community,” Malloy said. “That’s the measure of his life, his commitment to his family, his children, his wife Iva, his college, his fraternity, his church, Butler Heritage.”

Malloy described Lewis as a thoughtful and deliberative man whose greatest legacy is his children and the work they do in their communities.

“He will be greatly missed,” Malloy said.

Malloy and Rep. Jay Lucas worked with Lewis and the foundation to secure state funding for the restoration of Butler.

“Lynwood was always a tireless worker for causes he felt passionate about,” Lucas said. “He was always a gentleman. This community has suffered a very, very big loss with Lynwood’s passing.”

Tributes to Lewis were also posted on Hartsville Today.

“We are saddened by the loss of a dear friend in Hartsville, Mr. Lynwood Lewis, chairman of the Butler Heritage Foundation Board of Directors. He worked tirelessly to promote Hartsville, and to preserve the legacy and heritage of the former Butler High School to the current transformation as the vital Butler Community Center,” Jana Longfellow wrote on the site.

“Lynwood was one of those citizens who persevered to get things accomplished,” Byerly Foundation Executive Director Richard A. Puffer wrote. “He helped lead the Butler Heritage group and worked hard and creatively to raise funding for the building renovation and for the concept of a community center as the focus of the old Butler High School property. He stopped by the Byerly Foundation office a couple of months ago to talk about the progress and discuss ideas for making the next phase of this project become a reality.”

Lewis was born on Oct. 18, 1946, in Hartsville, a son of Betty Jo Jackson and the late Lynwood Lewis. He was educated in the public schools of Darlington County and graduated from Butler High School in 1964. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in social studies from Benedict College in 1968 and a master’s degree in guidance from South Carolina State University in 1976.

He worked as a teacher for the Darlington County School District for a number of years and taught social studies at Darlington High School, where he chaired the Social Studies Department. He also served as advisor to two youth groups and as a member of the Leadership Team.

Lewis was active in community affairs. In addition to serving as chair of the heritage foundation board, he served on the Darlington County First Steps to School Readiness Partnership Board of Directors. He also served as a member of the Black Creek Arts Council, the Hartsville Branch of the NAACP, an organizer of the Hartsville Little League softball program and was a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He also served on the Selling Hartsville Task Force.

He was a member of Mt. Rona Masonic Lodge No. 348 and had the distinction of being the first African American to serve in the Hartsville unit of the U.S. Army National Guard.

Lewis is survived by his mother of Hartsville; his wife of 38 years, Iva Campbell Lewis of Hartsville; his sons Corey (Shan) Lewis of Hartsville and Marc (TyShanta) Lewis of Warner Robbins, Ga.; his daughter, Keisha Lewis-Brown of Covington, Ga.; his grandchildren, Jordyn Lewis, Jahlil Lewis, Jayda Lewis and Jalen Lewis and many other relatives and friends.

His brother, Robbie Lee (Cookie) Jackson and his grandmother, Josephine Jackson, preceded him in death.

Funeral services for Lewis are scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Mt. Calvary AME Church, with final Masonic rites scheduled for today at 7 p.m. at the Gilbert Hines Memorial Chapel at Hines Funeral Home.