DETECTIVE EDGAR "DICK" LEWIS
BADGE 998, ID 1560
SDPD 11/15/1968 - 09/09/1989
12/22/1937 - 01/03/2024
THE THIN BLUE LINE
Dr. Edgar "Dick" Lewis was born on December 22, 1937 in Bay City, Matagorda County, TX to Horace and Catherine Fields Lewis, Sr. He grew up in the Buck's Bayou Community with his ten siblings on the Huebner Farm. Dick attended public school at Booker T. Washington-Hilliard High School in the Northend Community. He grew up picking cotton, mowing lawns, shining shoes -- whatever he could to earn money to help support his family. At the age of 16, he pleaded with his Mother to sign a waiver so he could join the Navy early and after much prayer, she finally relented after he turned 17. It was these meager beginnings which he contributed to his desire to strive for more and to always help others, never forgetting where he came from.
Dick accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior and was baptized was San Diego, CA where he continued to excel. Dick attended Hospital Corp school training at Balboa Hospital and soon found himself headed to Honolulu, Hawaii to Shipyard Dispensary at Pearl Harbor. He was sent to Tripler Army Hospital where he scrubbed in and assisted the doctor in the Operating Room. It was during this time he met and married the love of his life, a nurse named Anne Wallace, and to this union, two children were born: Edgar Anthony "Tony" Lewis and Roshaun Lewis. They lived in San Diego for a couple of years before he got his orders to go to Medical Training at Camp Pendleton. His next deployment was Vietnam where he worked on casualties every day, each day worse than the day before. They had church service every Sunday and he was able to find solace, relying upon his strong spiritual upbringing. He witnessed many horrors of the casualties of war, but nothing hit him as hard as when the Chaplain told him he received a telegram to inform him his wife was deceased. He traveled from Vietnam to the States to Albany GA, driving all night to get to his children. It was this heartache and pain that has continued to be a catalyst in his life in how he treated and cared for others.
From 1955 to 1968, he served as a hospital corpsman in the Navy. He performed two, 13-month tours in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, earning numerous accolades, including a Purple Heart, a Vietnam Service Medal, and three National Defense & Good Conduct Awards. After spending 13 years, 9 months in the US Navy, he entered the San Diego Police Department Academy. His desire was to spend more quality time with his children. In addition to his medical degrees, he also earned a Doctorate Degree in Law. His desire was to spend more quality time with his children.
Dick was a Police Officer for 22 years with the San Diego Police Department before joining the Chargers as the Director of Security in 1989. He was named Director of Community Outreach in 2012 after spending 26 years as Director of Security.
He began a weekly tradition of taking players and coaches to serve meals to the homeless and expanded the program by incorporating teens and young adults currently receiving drug rehabilitation treatment at the McAllister Institute. He also took players to visit hospitals and police dispatch centers, and he helped them become mentors to troubled teens. In 2010, the Salvation Army honored him with its Partners in Mission Award for his dedication to helping the homeless. He served as the lead singer for "Timeout" -- a musical group that sings old R&B songs to seniors at retirement homes.
Highly regarded for his work in keeping a lid on racial tension and gang activities during the '70s and '80s, he was honored by the San Diego Police Museum in February 2010 during Black History Month.
His legacy of service will continue to inspire, reminding us all of the difference one person can make. It's all about "Choices, Decisions, and Consequences".
Dick's transition from this life to life eternal came Wednesday morning, January 3, 2024, at Palomar Hospital, Escondido, CA at 86 years of age. On Friday morning, January 5, 2024, his daughter Roshaun Lewis, joined her father as she also crossed over into life eternal to be with her father, mother, brother, and son.
He will forever be in the hearts of his family, including his sister Hazel Johnson (Simon) of Bay City, TX; sisters- in-law Francis Lewis, Bessie "Nan" Lewis, and Doris Lewis; as well as a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends along with countless other friends and family whom were blessed to have known him.
Dick was preceded in death by his son Anthony "Tony" Lewis; grandson Jeremy Riddle; mother Catherine Lewis; father Horace Lewis; sisters Earline Peters, Minnie Ola Manning and Mary Jane Sidney; brothers Floyd Lewis, Sr., Perry King Lewis, Sr., Horace Lewis, Jr., Hezekiah Lewis, Prince Lewis, Sr. and Lloyd Lewis.
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