March 20
March 20, 2007Vergie Petersen
March 23, 2007
How do you measure the life of a man who has been so charitable to his community and surrounding area? “You can’t,” said L.J. Folse, longtime friend of the Late Hartwell Lewis Sr.
Lewis, a community activist and businessman passed away quietly around 1:30 a.m. last Monday morning at his home. He was six days away from his 80th birthday, which is March 18.
Born in Abbeville, La., in 1927, Lewis moved to Houma in 1949. It was there he met his future wife, the former Mentor Pourciau. The couple wed in 1952.
The couple bore two children Hartwell (Sally Stafford) Lewis Jr., and Laura (Kenneth) Lewis Millet. Lewis is also survived by two grandchildren, Amanda Barrow Millet and John Lewis Millet.
Hartwell Jr. remembers his father’s desire for his children to strive to do their best. It is the same characteristic that made the senior Lewis a mover and shaper in Terrebonne Parish.
Lewis was honored as the parish’s most useful senior in 2000 for his contribution to the community. He so tremendously influenced the community that the United Way for South Louisiana named its Volunteer Service Award after in him 2004.
Each year, the Hartwell Lewis Sr. Volunteer Service Award is given to the person that has contributed the most to the community.
Mentor Lewis said of her husbands’ feats, “He was always into something. I feel that was special that the people of Terrebonne Parish honored him for all he had done while he was still here.”
In Terrebonne Parish, Lewis is remembered as the man who had a heart of gold. For several years, he ran Patterson Insurance Agency in Houma. After he retired, he opened his own financial loan business called Capital for Terrebonne. Lewis supplied financial support to many local aspiring entrepreneurs back in the 1980s, shortly after the oil field crash.
Folse remembers Lewis as a confident businessman.
“I have known Hartwell since 1953, before either of us came to Houma. He was very optimistic and positive. He used to always say ‘Don’t give until it hurts, give until it feels good,’” Folse said.
Lewis’s vision and drive helped to start several Terrebonne Parish business entities and organizations like Progressive Bank and Trust Company in Houma and Leadership Terrebonne.
Terrebonne Parish Council Clerk Paul Labat said Lewis had two outstanding traits: his sense of humor and his wit. Because of his quick turn of a phrase and clever sense of humor, Labat said others were never able to guess Lewis’s age.
“He had a zest for life and we are really losing a great citizen of Terrebonne Parish,” the council clerk said.
Labat worked alongside Lewis with the United Way for South Louisiana and the Leadership Terrebonne organization.
Lewis was also dedicated to his church and community. He has been a member of First United Methodist Church in Houma for more than 50 years. He was instrumental in helping the church move from a small facility that barely held 100 people to its current site on Highway 311.
He is remembered within his church community as a man who could see into the future.
According to church members, Lewis wanted First United Methodist to be more than just a place for worship. He wanted it to be a haven for a better tomorrow.
The Rev. Barry Hoekstra, pastor of the church, said, “Hartwell was a man of great vision. He always had his community’s best interest in mind. He was deserving of any honors that the community bestowed upon him.
“He wanted this church to advance. He got with the other church leaders and they put a plan to together back in the mid 1950s. They called the church the ‘Cathedral on the Bayou.’ He has done so much for the church as a whole that it would take months to tell all,” Hoekstra added.
Lewis was also an active member of the Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of Houma.
Past Rotary Club president Billy Foster first met Lewis in 1979, when he [Foster] became a Rotarian.
“Hartwell is one of the oldest Rotary members. His commitment to Rotary is immeasurable. He is the epitome of what a Rotarian stands for. He was always raising the bar making us strive for excellence and a better community,” Foster said.
“He was a man who had many ideas about the way Terrebonne Parish should be. He had a way of making you think his ideas were yours. He was a great motivator. He had one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen,” the Rotarian continued.
A memorial service in Lewis’s honor was held Saturday at First United Methodist Church.
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