Many people from Thurston County served in the armed forces during World War I. Some never returned. One these men was Captain Lee Lewis, who was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. His widow Dora later became a nationally renowned home economics professor.
Lee Lewis, Early History from Kansas to Washington State
Lee Clare Lewis was born to Fred (1862-1937) and Ada Jones Lewis (1871-1952) on April 4, 1892, in Jetmore, Kansas. The family moved to rural Brighton Park, now part of Tumwater, in 1903.
The Lewis family was very active in the Grange. Ada was nicknamed the “little mother of the grange” according to her obituary and Fred was state secretary for 30 years. Lee himself was active in the Brighton Park Grange.
The sole 1906 eighth grade graduate from Brighton Park School, Lee attended Olympia High School. He was an active student, on the debate team and manager of the track team. As yell master, he led pep rallies and drummed up the crowd at sports games.
Graduating in the class of 1910, Lee passed his teaching exam and got a job instructing at McKinley and Belmore schools. Besides teaching school, he was a leader in the Young People’s Society at the Olympia Congregational Church, of which he was a member.
In summer 1911, Lee took a job as city editor of The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver. That winter, he taught school at Sunnyside, near Washougal. Graduating with an agricultural degree from the Washington State College in 1916, he settled in Walla Walla as manager of the state penitentiary’s livestock farm.
Thurston County Silver Star Recipient, Captain Lee Lewis
Soon after World War I was declared, Lee resigned from his job and enlisted. He entered officers training, commissioned as a second lieutenant. Before he left for duty, he was able to spend some time back home. And on June 17, 1917, he married Dora Sumarlidason.
Halldora “Dora” Hjalmfridur was born on November 26, 1892, to Sumarlidi and Helga Sumarlidason, Icelandic immigrants, in Milton, North Dakota. The large family soon relocated to Seattle where her father worked as a jeweler and watchmaker. Dora graduated from Ballard High School in 1910. Her parents moved to the Tumwater area, where her father owned an orchard. Dora taught at the Brighton Park and Bush Prairie schools.
After a two-week honeymoon camping in the Oregon Cascades, the couple lived with Lee’s parents. But Lee was soon called to report to Fort Leavenworth for duty. “He’s doing what I raised him to do,” Fred told friends. “His duty.”
Lee left September 2, 1917. Dora never saw Lee again.
Lee went into training. In March 1918, he was made a 1st lieutenant, in command of 220 men at Camp Green, North Carolina. His ship reached France in May. In his final letter home, he reported that he had been made an adjutant to his commanding officer and expected to be sent to the front soon.
During the Chateau-Thierry campaign on July 30, 1918, Lee’s unit, Company A of the 47th infantry, was in trouble. He volunteered to lead a patrol to locate units to the left of their position. Corporal Olin M. Geer later described the scene in a letter to Lee’s family. “Over, fellows, the Germans,” Lee said, “See, they are beaten.”
During the patrol, Lee was hit by shrapnel from an exploding shell. He died a day later. It took nearly a month for his family to be notified of his death. He had been promoted to captain June 12, but had not been notified by the time of his death.
In 1922 Lee was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, the military’s third-highest award for valor in combat.
Dora Lewis, Thurston County’s Renowned Home Economics Teacher
Dora remained in Thurston County after her husband left. In September 1918 she and her mother-in-law organized a county-wide clothing drive for Belgian refugees through the Junior Red Cross. She graduated from Washington State College in 1920 with a domestic science degree.
After graduation Dora returned to Olympia to work in the Office of the State Superintedent of Public Instruction (OSPI). She became president of the Olympia American Legion women’s auxiliary in 1921.
But Dora was not one to stay in one place. In September 1921 she joined the faculty at Cheney Normal School, now Eastern Washington State University. Dean of women, she taught domestic science.
Dora graduated with Master of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1926. In 1927 she became a professor of home economics and dean of women at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. Dora returned to Olympia in 1929 as Superintendent of State Home Economics Programs for OSPI.
Dora did not forget Lee. In 1930 she joined one of the free “Gold Star Mothers and Widows Pilgrimages” to visit the cemetery where her husband was buried.
In 1935, she changed jobs again, supervising home economics programs for 11 western states for the Federal Bureau of Education. Two years later, Dora became the Seattle School district’s home economics director.
Dora joined the faculty of New York University in 1939 as chair of the home economics department. Then she moved to Hunter College in 1944, serving in a similar position until 1959. She also co-authored several textbooks, including “It’s Your Home: A Student Guide to Homemaking” and “Clothing Construction and Wardrobe Planning.”
Dora Lewis died August 5, 1982 in La Jolla, California.
Lee and Dora Lewis may have had a short time together. But Lee’s service to America and Dora’s service to American families showed their shared dedication to others. “When one lays down one’s life work, having done one’s best,” Lee wrote to his mother and wife, “the Big Boss is going to find a better job for him somewhere else.”
