November 13, 2024

By Darcy Fargo
Editor

“In every place he served, he preached the word, broke the bread, and made present among us the gift of Jesus the Lord,” Father Joseph A. Morgan said of his friend, Father Clyde A. Lewis, in his homily at Father Lewis’ funeral. “Our eyes were opened, our hearts burned, because we knew here was a faithful priest of God who wanted nothing more than that we journey with him every step to the kingdom. That’s what it’s all about. When you get right down to it, walking the way to the kingdom.”

Father Lewis died Oct. 31 at University of Vermont Health Network Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in Plattsburgh.

Father L. William Gordon said he and Father Lewis became friends as children at St. John’s Academy when both were in second grade.

“From second grade, through our ordinations and up to today, we’ve known one another and always been friends,” Father Gordon said. “We went to Wadhams Hall together in 1957.”

Father Gordon noted that the pair shared many good times and more than a few antics.

“After the end of our second year (at Wadhams Hall), we were farmed out to other seminaries,” Father Gordon said. “I was sent to Baltimore. He was sent to St. Bonaventure and Christ the King. We would write letters back and forth. They read the *seminarians’ incoming) mail at Bonaventure. I wrote him a letter once and addressed it to, ‘Dear Clyde and whoever else is reading this.’ The dean of discipline called him in and told him he could never communicate with me again.”

The order didn’t put a damper on their friendship, though. While they were geographically separated at various points in their ministries, they remained close.

“We were always contacting one another,” Father Gordon said. “When he was pastor at Holy Family in Watertown, I was in Chazy. He called me, ‘guess what? I’m going to be your neighbor.’ He was going to Rouses Point. His dad was a very serious man. He thought Clyde was being demoted going from Holy Family to Rouses Point. It was difficult to explain to him how wonderful it was to leave such a busy, huge parish and be a parish priest a little easier. And we were together again. He was right next door.”

While he appreciated slowing down a little, Father Gordon said Father Lewis resisted stepping away from active ministry.

“I was always encouraging him, ‘please retire,’” Father Gordon said. “He’d scream and yell at me, swear at me. He’d say, ‘no! I’m going to die with my boots on.’ He remained in ministry until August, when he got quite ill.”
Father Gordon described his friend as “a very spiritual man.”

“He kept a lot of that to himself,” he said. “We would have little talks once in a while. Three days before he left Meadowbrook for the hospital, he said to me, ‘we haven’t talked about God lately.’ He’d always say, ‘if I had it to do all over again, I would be a priest again.’ I would say, ‘I would, too.’ He certainly went through lots of difficulties and tough times, but he’d still do it again. I think that came across to his people.”

Father Gordon said the loss of his friend is a loss to the diocese.

“Everybody in the diocese loved (Father) Clyde Lewis,” he said. “He had all kinds of jobs over the years. He had a list of things he did. He was just super. He was a priest’s priest. He loved the clergy, and he was always so good to the priests. Years ago, Msgr. Pierce was in an assisted living, nursing home type facility in Peru. (Father Lewis) found him there and said, ‘you’re not going to live here anymore.’ He brought him to live at the rectory. He was always looking out for others.”

Father Gordon noted that Father Lewis’ funeral was held in the church constructed under Father Lewis’ supervision, St. Augustine’s in Peru.

“He decided when he built the church in Peru that he’d be buried there and his funeral would be there,” he said. “His mom and dad are buried there, as well. Their funerals were at St. Augustine’s. It was home.”

Father Morgan referenced that love of St. Augustine’s in his homily.

“As I mentioned, this is the house that Clyde built, and he took great pride in this church,” Father Morgan said. “He studied all those liturgical documents, consulted with so many worship people and councils, and formulated a vision for what this church could be. He wanted it to be here for generations as a reminder that God dwells in our midst. I remember one time, Emery, the custodian, was cleaning while a group of kids were visiting. They saw him and asked, ‘Is that God?’ Father Clyde said, ‘Oh yeah, that’s him all right. He likes a tidy house.’ When the church was finished, and Bishop Brzana came for its dedication, Father Clyde was a bit nervous about the cost overruns. But on that sunny day in August 1982, even Bishop Brzana was won over. He said, ‘You have built a gem of a church.’ So, all was well, even with the unexpected debt. But more important than a building, he was building the body of Christ, the community. He loved the people entrusted to his care. Near the end, he especially appreciated his friends who took care of him, not as staff, but as family. He grew teary-eyed, saying, ‘I don’t have a staff. I’ve got a family.’ And so you were and are to him.”

Father Gordon noted that Father Lewis’ longtime parish secretary, Jo-Anne Ryan, and her husband, Steve, aided Father Lewis as his body failed in recent years.

“He was loved,” Father Gordon said.