John Lewis Sr.

John Paul Lewis Sr. CLEVELAND John Paul Lewis Sr., 77, passed away Wednesday morning, Feb. 26, 2014, in a local health care facility after a difficult battle with cancer. Mr. Lewis was born Nov. 2, 1936, in Benton, Tenn., and he was the son of the late Eula Ladell Wright Lewis and John Coocher Lewis. His first wife of 41 years, Lorraine Smith Lewis; his brother, Bobby Ray Lewis; his sister, Loreen Lewis; and an infant brother also preceded him in death. John Paul was a well-known auctioneer and the owner of Lewisco Auction and Reality Co. located off of Waterlevel Highway here in Cleveland. He held licenses in Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky and Alabama. Mr. Lewis attended the Baptist Church. Survivors include his son, John Paul Lewis Jr. and his wife, Kimberly; his grandson, Trey Lewis and his wife Brittney Lawson Lewis; his great-granddaughter, McKenley Ann Lewis; his brother, Ben E. Lewis and his wife Linda; his sisters, Mable Geraldine Lewis, Bela Lou Roddy and her husband, Greeley, Charlotte Taylor; his partner and significant other, Nola Field; and several nieces and nephews also survive. The Remembrance of Life Service will be conducted Sunday afternoon at 3 from the North Ocoee Chapel of the Jim Rush Funeral Homes with Rev. Richard Watson, Rev. Carl Caffrey, Rev. David Moore, Rev. Johnny Hood and Kathy Wilburn officiating. Interment will follow in Sunset Memorial Gardens with David Chase, John Paul Lewis III "Trey", Gabe West, Walter West, Roscoe Price, Josh West, John Sanders and Cody Bostic serving as active pallbearers. A Dove release will conclude the services. John Paul requested the following special friends be mentioned as honorary pallbearers, Hoyt and Jo Ownby, Ben Moore, Cotton and Bobbie Shadden, Ron Bird, Raymond "Corn Fed" Eads, Jim Rymer, Paul Craig, the late Bruce Renner, Wade Williams, Kathy Wilburn, the late Homer Dill, Robin Torbett, Amy Pasavant, Ina Trotter, Onecia Longley, Pete and Billie Ann Brumfield, J.C. Ownby, Oscar Foster, John Harden, C.A. Lightfoot, Ted Chase, Anna Clark, Stanley Conner, Wally Cunningham, Paul Isham, Virgil Calfee, J. T. Haun, Ed Lewis, Diana Calfee, Ethel Brown, Jackie Evans and a host of other friends and Auction family. Honorary flower girls will be Sydney and Tara Blackwell. In lieu of flowers the family ask donations be made to: St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105, phone # 1-800-822-6344. You may share your condolences and your memories with the Lewis family at www.jimrushfuneralhomes.com. The family will receive friends from 2 until 9 p.m. today at the North Ocoee Chapel of the Jim Rush Funeral Homes who has charge of the arrangements.