Jimmie was the second born child of Virgil Adrian Brown Sr (1889-1967), a carpenter who built many of the homes around Toulmanville, and Lois Adeline Smart (1897-1988), a schoolteacher who had been valedictorian of her graduating class. She became known as “Jimmie” as she was a tomboy who showed a strong athletic talent from a young age. Jimmie was always playing sports and was on the swim team in high school. She grew up on O’Sage St in Toulmanville in a home that her father had built.
A graduate of Murphy High School class of 1944, Jimmie accepted a full scholarship to study English at the University of Alabama, where she lettered in swimming and remained a loyal fan of Alabama football throughout her entire life. She graduated from the University with a double major in English and physical education and became a teacher from a family that was numbered with teachers. Her paternal grandfather had been a gentleman farmer and schoolteacher. Her mother had been a teacher as had her aunt, her sister (a piano teacher and professional performer with a master’s degree in music) among others.
Upon graduating, Jimmie accepted a position teaching at Newcomb college (which is now a part of Tulane) in New Orleans for one year. She then returned to Mobile to marry William J. Lewis Jr, an alumnus of the University of Alabama who had just returned from the Navy. She and Bill had met as teenagers at a tennis court, and he had taken her on her first date to the county fair when she was 14 years old. Bill was from nearby Prichard, Alabama and was also a graduate of Murphy. The newlyweds moved into an apartment in a house built and owned by Jimmie’s parents next door to them on O ’Sage Street and were gifted a new home to built by Jimmie’s father as a wedding gift. Virgil Brown Sr built his daughter and new son in law’s home by hand as a labor of love. Jimmie accepted a teaching position at CF Vigor High School in Prichard where she taught English, Biology and her passion: Physical education.
She remained a popular and beloved teacher at Vigor throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s, when she accepted an opportunity to teach and coach at the prestigious Julius T Wright, a girls preparatory school that would later merge with UMS and become the co-ed private school UMS Wright. She became the head of athletics at JT Wright, won many tennis tournaments and winner’s trophies with JT Wright tennis team, and led the girls’ cross country team to become state champions on five separate years in the 1980’s. She taught and coached young ladies in Archery, cross country, swimming, basketball, volleyball, etc. She was named “JT Wright’s teacher of the year in 1986,” and “The Lois Brown Lewis Award” was created by JT Wright on her honor. It was awarded annually to the most accomplished athlete at Wright and Ms. Lewis presented it personally to the current recipient at the JT Wright Senior Awards Ceremony at Wright for many years after her retirement from teaching in 1988.
Mrs. Lewis is preceded in death by her parents, her two siblings, her beloved husband Bill who passed away in 2005, and her son Stephen Lynn Lewis, a Vietnam veteran who had serviced in the Marine Corps who passed away in 2011. She is survived by one son as well as two granddaughters: Jennifer Ann Lewis-Auger (Richard D. Auger, Jr) originally of Portland, Maine is a social worker currently living in Mobile and who is employed at Mobile County DHR, and Stephanie Joy Lewis, a native Mobilian and an RN who is employed as a traveling Nurse currently assigned to the Washington, DC area. She is also survived by one great-grandson, Dominic Wolfgang Wallace (Portland, ME) a social activist who is professionally employed as performing artist in Seattle, Washington. She is also survived and remembered warmly by many nieces and nephews and friends of all ages.
The impact that Lois Merle “Jimmie” Brown Lewis had on female athletes in Mobile county should not be underestimated. She advocated strongly for many female students to receive athletic awards and scholarships, bucking against the tradition for female athletes to be overlooked and passed over. Her accomplishments continue to impact female athletes and scholars today who have been inspired by her passion for athletic accomplishments, and who have striven to achieve and inspire other young women after them, and who went on to become college graduates. At the time that the young girl known as Jimmie Brown left Mobile county for the University of Alabama, many young women still had to choose between college or a husband, if college was even presented as an option for them at all. Jimmie had been noticed and selected for her intellect and scholastic abilities, but continued to pursue her love of sports which cleared a path for girls to receive awards and accomplishments in her name decades later. Her love of tennis was remarkable, winning trophies and awards. She continued to play Tennis well into her 80’s. She loved being a teacher, and she adored her students. She is remembered fondly by former students for the phrase “chug-a-lug, ladies!” It was a common expression she would often use to motive girls on the track and field.
Beyond her academic and athletic accomplishments, Mrs. Lewis is remembered very fondly for her love of family. She cared for many beloved family members and friends as they grew older and required more assistance. She often would bring plates of food to family members who lived in the neighborhood on her nightly walks. Mrs. Lewis was an absolute gem of a grandmother. Having raised sons who had both served in the Marine Corps, she delighted in having two granddaughters who she sewed homemade dresses for with tags that read “made with love by Grandma.” Much to her chagrin, neither girl showed any interest in athletics. She passed her love of reading onto her granddaughters. Mrs. Lewis often hosted her granddaughters at her home in the summer, even when it meant buying plane tickets to have one of them fly across the country as an unaccompanied minor. She indulged her granddaughters, who would ask to go swimming every day, and she taught them how to dive and swim at the Swimming and Racquet Club in Mobile, took them to bookstores, and served them ice cream nightly. Mrs. Lewis also had an exemplary memory for telling family stories about relatives who had passed on, ensuring that those stories will live on. She demonstrated an incredible amount of patience for helping grandchildren who were struggling with math, or when she would be asked to play children’s card games over and over.
Jimmie and Bill’s home was a gathering place for family during holidays. She continued to host Thanksgiving for her grandchildren and their families well into her late 80’s. She kept a bedroom with bunk beds for her granddaughters where grandchildren still stay today when visiting the home. Additionally, She always remained elegant, stylish and eloquent and spoke with a refined magnolia drawl. She remained active in community and social affairs. Jimmie’s athletic abilities and intense physical prowess is certainly a credit to her living to age 97, which allowed her great-grandson to have the gift of knowing her into his mid-20’s. She will be well remembered by all who knew her and love her. Mrs. Lewis will always remembered as a cherished grandmother, aunt, mother, friend, as well as an inspirational athlete, teacher, and advocate for young women for many generations to come.
SEPTEMBER 2, 1926 – SEPTEMBER 29, 2023
Visitation will be held on Saturday, October 7, 2023 from 12:00 p.m. until 1:30 p.m. at Radney Funeral Home-Mobile. Graveside services will be held in Mobile Memorial Gardens beginning at 2:00 p.m.
