By Michelle James
Nancy Pat Hamilton Lewis-Smith, a long-time Raleigh County community and business leader and a true representative of the “Spirit of Beckley,” passed away Monday morning.
“She was a unique, special woman who made tremendous contributions (to the community),” said Lewis-Smith’s friend and Beckley Area Foundation Executive Director Susan Landis.
Lewis-Smith, 90, led a very busy, productive life.
Born in Oak Hill in 1919, she married Charles Scott Lewis Jr., founder of the Lewis Automotive Group, on Aug. 31, 1939.
She would later serve as president of Lewis Automotive.
Lewis-Smith was active in many organizations including the Beckley Woman’s Club and Beckley Housing Authority and was one of the founders of the St. Stephen’s Episcopal Day School. She helped organize the Highland Garden Club, Women’s Resource Center and the Beckley Community Concert Association.
“She led by example,” Landis said, adding Lewis-Smith took a leadership role at a time when many women worked in the shadows. “Young women who looked to her knew they too had a role that went beyond just cleaning the house.
“They knew they could be a good wife and parent, but could also have a real leadership role in civic involvement.”
Lewis-Smith’s daughters, Nancy Hamilton Haley, Langhorne Abrams and Mary Charles Sutphin, referred to their mother as a “modern thinker.”
“Her life was filled with the philosophy of public service and concern for our city, our county and our state,” Abrams said, adding her mother was always concerned with community happenings.
Charles Lewis, with whom she had three daughters, passed away in 1987, and three years later, Lewis-Smith married friend and former governor Hulett C. Smith, who also had lost his wife of 45 years in 1987.
In 2002, the couple told The Register-Herald that they enjoyed traveling and being active in the community.
“There are so many interesting things here,” she said. “This has been a very sophisticated town, and still is. The reason we can do things is we have people who can help us. One of the reasons we don’t want to leave here is because it’s good to be around people we know.”
One of those people to whom Lewis-Smith was certainly referring is Janie Bibb, a friend since 1943.
Bibb, a native of Arkansas, said she met Lewis-Smith at a luncheon at which she knew no one else.
“She and I were the only ones who didn’t have stockings on,” she said with a laugh, explaining she knew instantly that they would be friends. “We never had a cross word. She was like a sister to me.”
In 1994, both Lewis-Smith and Hulett Smith received the community’s most prestigious honor, when they were named as recipients of the Beckley-Raleigh County YMCA’s Spirit of Beckley Award.
“She was such a sweet lady,” Y CEO Jim Gilchrist said. “She was always chipper and had a smile on her face. She did lots of work for the community.”
Bibb agreed, adding her friend of more than 50 years had “her finger in a million pies.”
“She was a dear and wonderful person and I grieve for her,” she added. “I can’t tell you how much I will miss her.”
— E-mail: mjames@register-herald.com
