"Bold In His Walk With The Lord"

My next-door neighbor and closest friend as a child has gone to meet the Lord:

Walter E. "Eddy" Lewis (51) was born in Albuquerque on May 20, 1957. He went to be with his Lord Jesus on Saturday, March 21, 2009 in Albuquerque. Eddy is preceded in death by his parents James W. Lewis and Vivian Pauline Dooley. He is survived by brothers, James W. Lewis Jr., and wife Bertie of Los Lunas, Joseph S. Lewis and wife Marilyn of Edgewood, and John P. "Johnny" Lewis of Alamogordo; sisters, Pauline E. Holloway of Clifton, TX., Winky Gibson and husband John of Deming, and Mary Kathleen "Kathy" and husband Mike Heffran of Silver City; many other family and friends who loved and will miss him dearly. Eddy graduated from Corn Bible Academy Corn, Oklahoma in 1975. He served in the US Navy from 1975 thorough 1983 both stateside and abroad. He earned a Bachelor of Computer Science from New Mexico State University, and a Master of Divinity Degree from Christ For The Nations Institute in Dallas, TX. Eddy was bold in his walk with the Lord and would witness to all he encountered. His family and friends were his treasure, and his life's priority was the Lord Jesus Christ in all that he said and did. Celebration of Life Service with the US Navy Honor Guard will be held on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 in the Chapel of Direct Funeral Services, 2919 4th Street NW in Albuquerque. A viewing will be held from 5:5:30 p.m. to 6:6:00 p.m., with the Celebration of Life Service beginning at 6:6:00 p.m. Officiating will be Pastor Brenton Franks. Interment will be held privately at the Santa Fe National Cemetery. Arrangements by Direct Funeral Services, 2919 4th St. NW. ABQ. 505-343-8008

Wow! That's hard to comprehend! Eddy, gone from this Earth!

As children we were very close. We always met in the field between our houses, in Corrales, NM, on the northwestern outskirts of Albuquerque.

Although being seven months younger than I was, Eddy was always a bit bolder. Once, when we were six years old, I remember Eddy sneaking upon and grabbing a honeybee tending an alfalfa flower. He screamed and quickly ran home. Curious about this turn of events, I grabbed the next available honeybee. I screamed and ran home too.

Oh, lots of kid stuff! Unexplained fires; catching tadpoles and raising frogs; yearning to borrow the bicycle; dirt-clod wars with the kids up the road; freezing grasshoppers and reviving them with the electric-train transformer; watching with amusement as Randy the Dachsund howled the praises of the Lord while Mrs. Lewis played organ - so many memories!

In the mid-1960's, we divided our immediate neighborhood into various countries (his, Great Britain; mine, Winchester) and territories, and built our own cities, made from leftover wood scraps, brick and adobe. We had our own currencies too (and exchange rates, when it sometimes turned out our play money came from different toymakers). We turned the Lewis' abandoned goat pen into a rock collection bazaar, and general capital, and bought and sold our precious stones.

We had political debates too. While I stumped for Hubert Humphrey in 1968, I marvelled how quickly and rationally the Lewis kids changed their allegiances to Richard Nixon ('unfortunately, George Wallace can't win, and we can't waste our votes'). Oh, we had debates!

Eddy was the first person who ever explained to me what a Fundamentalist was. That was probably his truest calling, as a lay preacher. In the 80's and early 90's he helped run a Christian bookstore in Silver City, NM. As a result of his daily contact with so much Fundamentalist literature, and his general interest in the welfare of my soul, in the mid-90's, he was mailing me several times a week with his various thoughts on science, creationism, politics, and whatnot. His letters tailed off with time (I stopped answering, to help stem the tsunami of paper), but even quite recently, he wrote to urge me to watch Ben Stein's movie "Expelled":



(I went to the video store to check it out, but it was already checked out, and I have yet to see it.)

Eddy despised nothing more than the ideology of Evolution and viewed it as the direct road to Naziism and the other social/political/religious ills of the 20th Century (and today!)

As for myself, I believe Science is our best guide to understanding the Universe, and Evolution is an important part of Science. Evolution isn't just ideology; it is fact.

And as for the status of my soul, I spend a lot of time in theater, so 'nuf said. Eddy might say the Devil was at work, with my willful obstreperousness. But he would also say, there is still time, while breath lingers, to accept Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior.

All that aside, Eddy lived a good life and he was "bold in his walk with the Lord." My deepest condolences to all the Lewis clan for our heartfelt loss.