It is hard to write an obit for one whose friendship resulted in two life-long journeys for me: life-membership in both the OGCA and a sister Ohio corporation, the National Muzzleloading Rifle Association. Around 1954 0r 55 Jack was then executive chef for the Hotel Alms in Cincinnati. The hotel was then host to radio station WKRC. It as here I attended my first OGCA gun show. I understood Jack pretty much managed the Hotel Alms.
Jack was a mentor in gunsmithing as well as dealing, collecting and shooting of antique guns. Only yesterday I used one of his tricks for removing “frozen” screws, and I don’t remember that using it ever failed to produce good results. For many years Jack ran a gun-shop on Montgomery Road in Cincinnati and it was a go-to place for gunsmithing and guns of all kinds including rare and exotic “trapdoor” Springfields. He did ‘smithing’ for the well-known OGCA collector Bill Locke. Jack’s gun-shop was the hang-out for those in the know of local gun-bugs.
In later years he built, lived-in and maintained a shop in a log house near Stout, OH which suffered a disastrous fire. Well-past retirement age, Jack simply “started over”. Cooking, serving and smithing in Stout near Portsmouth, OH. He maintained a booth at NMLRA Shoots at Friendship, IN where you would see many rare and desirable guns, bits and pieces. His late wife sewed, and a rack of historic-styled clothing was often there for sale.
Son, Jack Lewis, Jr. was the firearm/military expert for Cowan Auctions and now maintains his own auction house in Newport, KY. In addition, he had a Daughter, Dora, and Son Tom who was long-time security for NMLRA and maintained a gunsmith shop in Stout, OH with his dad until the end.