Mary Frances Thatcher Lewis

Mary Frances Thatcher Lewis, who died at home on May 23, 2014, was born in Berkeley, CA on January 26, 1917, the second daughter of Frank Hosford Thatcher and Claire Ferrin Thatcher. After growing up in Berkeley, she attended the University of California at Berkeley, worked in the financial district in San Francisco and then moved to Honolulu, HI, where she was working when Pearl Harbor was attacked. It was there that she met and married Meriwether Fielding Stormy Lewis, a Navy pilot and native Virginian, and had their first son before settling on their land in Virginia. She deeply loved the home they built and the land it was on, and though she left to live for three years in San Diego, CA and seventeen in Atlanta, GA, she was firmly rooted in Clarksville, returned in 1997 and dedicated a majority of her time to civic and community projects. Mary Fran will be remembered for her extensive efforts in the successful addition to St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, where she worshipped for sixty-seven years, for her civic involvement, her determined leadership, her love of books and gardening, her gin-rummy prowess, her artistic creations, her steadfast friendships, her gift of listening, her fount of energy, her youthful perspective, her ever-inquisitive mind and her enduring sense of humor. She was preceded in death by her husband, Meriwether Fielding Lewis, and by her two sisters, Jane Thatcher Giguiere Symons and Claire Thatcher Schnitler. She is survived by her children; son, John Taylor Lewis, III and his wife, Betty, of Campbellsburg, IN, and their children, Taylor, Sarah Kelly White, Naomi, and Nathan Anna, as well as six great grandchildren; daughter, Claire Yum Lewis Arnold and her husband, Ross, of Atlanta, GA and their children, Less, Fielding Brandon Hoe, and Will Dawn McDaniel; son, Meriwether Fielding Sambo Lewis, Jr. and his wife, Megan of Scarborough-on-Hudson, NY and their son, Fielding; and son, Frank Thatcher Lewis and his wife, Julie, of Surrey, England, and their children, George, Freya, Grace, Flora and Truman, as well as by her faithful dog, Buddy. Her family wishes to express gratitude for the strong and gentle caregivers who have made her comfortable for the past two and a half years: Frances Pettiway, Dianne Puryear, Shirley Small, Nannie Smith, Samantha Terry, Becky Towler, and Stephanie Watson, along with the beautifully trained hands sent by Hospice of Virginia, as well as for Father Cleon Ross of St. John's Episcopal Church in Halifax and her many devoted friends and constant visitors. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that any donations in her memory be made to St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, 111 Sixth Street, Clarksville, Va. 23927. A service of celebration of her life will be held on Saturday, May 31st at 11am, at the family home, 1994 Merifield Drive, Clarksville, Va. 23927.