Obituary of Margie M. Lewis

<b>Online Obituaries for Wilmore, KY.</b> Margie Alma Miller Lewis, 91, widow of Dr. Ralph L. Lewis, passed away on Tuesday morning, December 23, 2014 at her residence in Wilmore, Kentucky. She was born on May 31, 1923 in Laurelville, Ohio to her parents, the late James O. and Florence Brigner Miller and was preceded in death by her dear younger sister, MaryEllen Miller Malone of South Rockwood, Michigan. Surviving are her three sons, Gregg A. {Deborah} Lewis of Rome, Georgia, Mark E. {Angela} Lewis and Mack A. Lewis, all of Wilmore. Margie was grandmother to nine Lewises and three grandchildren-in-law, Andrew, Matthew {Emily}, Lisette, Benjamin, Jonathan {Jessica}, Frederica, Ivey March {Taylor}, Guinevere, and Emma Rose, as well as two great-granddaughters, Annabelle Grace Lewis and (a very-soon-to-be-born) Baby Girl Lewis. Her loving and much-loved extended family included many in-laws and large number of nieces, nephews, great-nieces and nephews, and even more great-great nieces and nephews in Michigan, as well as numerous cousins in Ohio. Margie grew up in Laurelville, Circleville and Columbus, Ohio before leaving home after high school to attend Owosso Bible College in Owosso, Michigan where she met and married (on May 29, 1943) Ralph L. Lewis who would be her husband for 53 years. Margie also attended Central Michigan University before graduating from Asbury College (1946) and Asbury Theological Seminary (M.A., 1948) in Wilmore, Kentucky. As a young wife and mother, Margie, served and ministered as an active pastor's wife during Ralph's years in the pastorate of Evangelical United Brethren churches in Chesaning, Carleton, Ann Arbor and Ogden, Michigan and Derby, Kansas. She and her family then spent two years living in the Oklahoma City area when Ralph taught at Bethany Nazarene College prior to accepting a position of Professor of Preaching at Asbury Theological Seminary where he taught from 1961 until his death from cancer in 1996. From 1963 until 1970, Margie served as the Alumni Secretary at Asbury Theological Seminary, and she was an active member and sometimes officer in the Seminary Faculty Wives organization throughout the 35 years of her husband's tenure at ATS. Margie was a committed and loyal member of the Wilmore United Methodist Church for more than 50 years-and served in a variety of elected offices. Even in her home-bound years she participated in telephone prayer chains and helped organize such things as meals for out-of-town visitors at church funerals. Though she much preferred the domesticity, familiarity and comforts of home, she graciously endured the wanderlust of a husband and three sons who craved travel and outdoor adventure. The family camped, often in primitive conditions, from California to New England, Florida to Alaska, visiting 47 states by the time her boys left home. While she taught her three sons how to set a formal dinner table and helped make sure they knew their way around a kitchen and what to do with a washing machine, those who knew her best understood how much she would have also enjoyed having a daughter or two to raise. So, she eagerly welcomed her two daughter-in-laws, Debi and Angela. In addition, she enjoyed the fact her granddaughters outnumbered her grandsons five to four, and took real delight in knowing her first two great-grandchildren were girls. She greatly loved all of her grandchildren but it was a special joy when Mark and Angela returned from St. Croix and moved into the house next door to her. She was also thankful that four of her five out-of-town grandchildren graduated from Asbury U. and spent their college years living nearby in Wilmore. In 1980 Margie authored and published a best-selling (and still selling) book, The Hurting Parent: Help and Hope for Parents of Prodigals. She traveled and spoke on the subject of her book for a number of years. And she has continued to encourage and counsel the parents of prodigals around the country through correspondence and by telephone since the original publication of the book and up until the final months and weeks of her life. <b>Funeral Information</b> A funeral service to celebrate the life of Margie Lewis will be 2 p.m. Saturday, December 27, 2014 at the Wilmore United Methodist Church's Clark Chapel with burial in the Wilmore Cemetery. Visitation for family and friends will be from 12 noon until service time on Saturday, December 27, 2014 at the church. Burial will follow at Wilmore Cemetery.