J. Trevor Lewis

J. Trevor Lewis, Emporia, Kansas, died at his home on Monday, November 22, 2010. He was 94.

James Trevor Lewis was born August 9, 1916 at his parents’ home at 23 Union Street. He was the son of James Lewis and Elizabeth Williams Lewis. He married Elizabeth E. Hughes September 29, 1940 at Emporia, Kansas. She died August 23, 2010 in Emporia.

Surviving family members include a daughter, Bronwen Anne Lewis, of Topeka, Kansas; three nieces and one nephew

Trevor was a 1933 graduate of Emporia High School. He attended Kansas State Teachers College, Emporia 1933 to 1935, then Kansas State College, Manhattan, 1935 to 1938 and graduated with a degree in Architectural Engineering.
After graduation, Trevor worked for William Ruggles and the City Engineer of Emporia during the summer of 1938. He took a position as a draftsman in the office of Buck & Keys, Architects in the fall of 1938. In August of 1939 he was given the position of draftsman in the office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He became head of the drafting office but left when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps July 1, 1942. He was called for active duty at the University of California, Los Angeles, Westwood Campus, and graduated with a certificate in meteorology in September, 1943. His first duty station was at Walker Air Force Base, near Hays, Kansas where he served as meteorologist until November, 1943 when he was ordered to New York University to work on a special weather analysis project for the Air Corps. He returned to duty at Walker AFB in March 1944 after the project completion. He was assigned to Hickham Field, Oahu of the Hawaiian Islands, for tropical meteorology training in August, 1944. Completing that training in October, he was assigned to serve as meteorologist for the 500th Bomb Group of the 7th Air Force on the Island of Guam. Trevor was assigned to Harmon Field and helped to design and build the Weather Central Station there. In September of 1945 he was ordered to the island of Okinawa in the Ryukus, and served as meteorologist at Naha Air Base until January 1946. He was discharged from active duty, with the rank of Captain, in February of 1946 in Denver, Colorado, and returned to Emporia two days later. Upon his return to Emporia he was associated with Andrew E. Buck in active architectural practice. The firm was known as Buck and Lewis, A.I.A. Architects. He became a member of A.I.A. in 1949 and continued to present. Mr. Buck retired from the firm in 1961, and Trevor continued to practice until retiring in 1984. In the summer of 1984 he became the consulting architect for Newman Memorial County Hospital, Emporia, and maintained an office there until two years ago. Among the local buildings that Trevor was instrumental in include: Westminster Presbyterian Church, Saint Mark’s Lutheran Church, The Chapel on the Campus of the College of Emporia (now Bethel Baptist Church), First United Methodist Church, the Didde-Glaser Building, Didde Catholic Campus Center, William Allen White Elementary School, Hetlinger Developmental Center, the West Branch of ESB Financial, and a number of residential projects, as well as his work at Newman Regional Health.

Trevor was a member of Second Presbyterian Church, Emporia, where he was baptized in 1916. The church later changed to Westminster United Presbyterian Church, then recently the West Campus of the Presbyterian Church of Emporia. He served on the Board of Trustees, the Board of Session. He began singing in the Junior Choir of Second Presbyterian, then the Senior Choir in the 1930’s. He began singing for funerals with his wife, Elizabeth, in 1946 for a few years then began singing solos at funerals for many years. He was selected as architect for the Westminster Presbyterian Church building in 1965 to 1967.
He was a member of the American Institute of Architects since 1949. He served as Kansas Chapter President in 1968. He became an Emeritus member upon his retirement in 1984. Trevor was a member of Emporia Masonic Lodge #12, A.F. & A.M. in 1947, and was a member of all York Rite Bodies. He was elected Grand High Priest of the Most Excellent Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Kansas in 1982. He was elected to membership in the Saint Augustine Conclave of Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine (Topeka) in 1965 and elected Sovereign in 1972. He was a member and Past President (1976) in the Emporia Rotary Club. He was named in Who’s Who in America in 1989. He was The Gazette Man of the Week in 1961, 1984, and 1990. Until stepping down in 2009 he was the longest serving member of the Emporia/Lyon County Metropolitan Board of Zoning Appeals, serving since the creation of the board, and was a former Chairman.

Trevor was very gratified by the number of young men who started in his office in the architectural field. To his memory, Thirty-two young men started in the field, and all but three remained in Architecture, or related fields.

He loved golf, fishing for trout and bass, and hunting pheasant and quail.

Funeral services are planned for Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 10:30 A.M. at the West Campus, Presbyterian Church of Emporia. The service will be conducted by Pastor Mike Sorsen of the church. Interment will be in the Evergreen Cemetery, South of Emporia, with graveside honors by Emporia Masonic Lodge #12, AF & AM, and Military Services by Ball-McColm Post #5, American Legion and Lowry-Funston Post #1980, Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Memorials have been established for a Scholarship in Architecture at Kansas State University (Manhattan) and to the Emporia Municipal Golf Course. Gifts may be sent in care of the funeral home. To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of J. Trevor Lewis, please visit our flower store.