Date of Birth:
Wednesday, April 13, 1921
Date of Death:
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Age:
91 years old

Earl R. Lewis

The funeral for Earl R. Lewis will be at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, December 4, 2012 in the River Park Chapel at Macken Funeral Home with the Rev. James Russell officiating and co-officiate Michael Cronin .  Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery in Rochester.  Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service at the funeral home.

Mr. Lewis, 91, of Rochester, Minnesota, passed away Saturday, December 1, 2012 at Charter House.

Earl was born April 13, 1921 in Rochester, Minnesota.  After high school, he took courses from the La Salle Institute of Chicago and the Marine Corps Institute.

He married Myrtle Williams of Rochester in 1940 and they had two daughters, Sherrill Jean and Susan Kay.

Earl started work at O & B Shoes in 1940 and went into the United States Marine Corps in 1943 serving in the South Pacific until his discharge in November of 1945.  He rejoined O & B Shoes and became a partner in 1959.  In 1964, Earl bought out his partners and became sole owner.

In 1966, Earl opened a men’s shoe department at Hanny’s Men’s Wear, and in 1973 another O & B at Apache Mall.  In 1975, a fire at M. C. Lawler’s badly damaged O & B, and they were out of business for one year until opening a new O & B at 101 1^st Ave. Bldg., where it is today.

Mr. Lewis was very active in the business community.  Earl was in the Chamber of Commerce, on the board of downtown retailers, and served for several years on the U.S. Selective Service System.  Mr. Lewis was also a member of a 5 state group of independent retailers.  He retired from business in 1981 after 41 years.  Mr. Lewis lost his first wife in 2003, and he married Eleanor Kroftchalk Sackett in 2004.

Earl is survived by one daughter in Chicago and four granddaughters and his wife Eleanor.

Memorials are preferred to the Ronald McDonald House and the Mayo Clinic Poverello Fund.

Macken Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.