Florette Mary McGee Lewis

Florette Lewis's life can be tracked in the many visible signs of her activities, but her life also expresses powerful inward and spiritual graces, weaving together a heroine, a woman of great spiritual leadership. Her faith tradition, The Episcopal Church, expresses this inward/outward dynamic as the outward and visible sign of an inward, spiritual grace.

From Oregon pioneer families, Florette represents the kind of endurance and faithfulness required to live in the Oregon Territory. From her early days of music (tenor sax, clarinet) and organizations (Rainbow Girls, Job's Daughters, American Legion Girls), she found her way as a spiritual (inward) and community (outward) centered woman. And to this day, she leads an active, vibrant life despite a farm accident, which damaged her foot and leg when she was young.

In the early 1960s, she attended college but became pregnant. Facing that challenge she found a deeper strength. The child was adopted by an Oregon family (and years later reunited with Florette). She moved beyond the catastrophic and devastating episode and later, with good counsel from her peers in the National Women's Ministry, she began telling others her moving story of loss and challenge. Sharing the story with other women marks the progress of our societal changes, but also speaks to Florette's courage and leadership.

Florette met and married Robert Lewis in 1961, and become mom to Guy Henry in 1965 then Elizabeth Ann in 1967. The family was active in St. Mary's, Gardiner; St. Luke's, Waldport; St. James, Tigard; St. John's, Okanogan, Washington; and St. Luke's, Wenatchee, Washington. Florette continually found opportunities for deeper involvement, and expanded her support of spiritually focused organizations. Especially through Cursillo, a short course in Christianity, which develops spiritual leaders.

She says, "Cursillo brought the Episcopal Church and my faith alive to me. I learned more from that weekend than many other church classes." From that experience, she served on the board in the Diocese of Spokane and the Diocese of Oregon. 

The Episcopal Bishop of Northern Brazil (John Knox Sherrill) preached at St. Bart's in 1984, and the rector asked Bob and me to take the Bishop to lunch. He told Bob he was too old to learn Portuguese and Bob took that as a challenge. (He's still in a Portuguese conversation group here in Portland.) We ended up going to Recife, Brazil in July of 1984 and serving on their first Episcopal Cursillo. Not knowing any Portuguese, I worked in the kitchen with other women. It was a men's Cursillo.

Then our diocese established a relationship with the Diocese of Mexico, headquartered in Mexico City. Several lay people, priests, and the bishop came for their first Cursillo weekend and then Bob and I were asked to be the leaders (Rector & Rectora) of their first co-ed weekend. We remain close to the people there, and stay in touch with Carlos Touche Porter, now the Primate for the Episcopal Church in Mexico.

Upon moving to the Portland area, Florette attended St. Bartholomew's, where she began her involvement with Episcopal Church Women (ECW), a national organization of women in the Episcopal Church who promote such projects as Women to Women - helping women find economic opportunities; United Thank Offering - outreach within the United States and the world, building churches and supporting other ministries such as community feeding programs; and the Church Periodical Club – a printed word ministry.  ECW provides women empowerment programs such as Women of Vision and Creative Journey, giving women the kind of tools that corporate businesses offer employees, but which are not available to women who volunteer or are employed in less corporate organizations. As part of her Creative Journey work, Florette traveled to a tribal village north of Fairbanks for a Creative Journey weekend there.

She did not lose track of the centrality of family: her children married and had children. Florette is Grandma to Kathryn Grace, Lillyanne Sara, and Margaret Helen. Babysitting, changing diapers, reading stories, baking cookies, she always is there for her family. And she continues her support of women through the P.E.O. International Sisterhood, which supports several education programs for women, a loan fund and continuing education fund grant program and owns a two-year women's college in Nevada, Missouri. She has been an avid supporter of dance, both for her daughter, Elizabeth, a professional dancer, and for the dance community.

Florette's active life expresses the nourishment she finds in her faith. She's quiet and a woman of deeds, not speeches. She combines a hardy pioneer legacy and a pursuit of a better world for women. She is a woman whose dedication to communities and organizations, and attention to the inner spiritual path has provided leadership for these communities and organizations. She has given us a heritage, a model of how to live. There is no greater heritage than outward and visible signs of an inward and spiritual grace.

Honoring Acknowledgement: Florette Lewis is honored by St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church