 |
| Pvt. K. R. Lewis |
Other young men fought and died in the trenches of
Verdun. For Lew, a California farm
boy, military service was a social and romantic adventure. By a stroke of good fortune, he got to
see New York and Virginia, stayed well out of harm’s way, and met many young
ladies. He remembered them all, saving
the photos they gave him, along with the pictures he took during the war.[1]
Elva
 |
| Elva (center), her sister (left), and mother, chaperones on an outing to the coast with Lew |
Before entering the service, Lew had been working for a
fruit farmer near Sonoma, California, and courting Elva McCollum. He was twenty-four; she was seventeen,
lovely, and talented. She was
smitten. Lew was her first love.
Elva believed that if he hadn’t gone off to war, she and Lew would have
married.[2]
On Tuesday, 5 June 1917, Lew
registered for the draft.[3] He had plans to continue his bachelorhood.
Private K. R. Lewis joined Company C, 12th
Infantry, U. S. Army and trained at Camp Fremont near Menlo Park, California.[4]
On 22 October 1918, Lew’s company
boarded the Southern Pacific for the east coast before shipping out to
France. There were other ladies to
woo, all across the U. S. On the trip
from California to New York, Lew couldn’t help noticing: “Right across from
where I was [exercising] there was two girls[.] one certainly was full of pep. she had a pretty smile and beautiful hair she sang three songs about soldiers and
say they certainly were sweet.”[5] That was on day two, and there were
more ladies to come.
 |
| Grace Smith, New York |
Grace Company
C was stationed at Camp Mills on Long Island, New York, for just over a month.[6] During that time Lew struck up an
acquaintance with a local gal, Grace Smith, whose address he noted in his
journal. He may have met her while
out on pass, and they continued a relationship through photos sent through the
mail. Lew, it would turn out, was
a good pen pal.
There were other, unnamed, ladies in New York, too,
and moments of spontaneous flirting and closeness.
In
November 1918, despite rumors of a German surrender, Company C packed up daily
to go overseas, then unpacked again each night. On 11 November the armistice was signed, and there was no
need to go. When Company C finally
boarded a troop ship, they traveled south to the Army Supply Base in Norfolk,
Virginia.[7]
Lew spent the remainder of his service working in the
military post office there. He was
the first to know who got mail and who sent it. Sometimes there was a letter or card for him from Betty.
 |
| Lew in the post office, Norfolk |
 |
| Jeanette "Betty" Richofsky |
"Dearie:
I
received your letter on the 7th and was awfully glad to hear
from you so soon. My but it was a
sweet. I was awfully glad because
I was so lonesome but I felt better after Postie came. Dearie I sent you some postals. Did you get them? ... Oh dearie I am
awfully lonesome here. I have no
one to say sweet things to me like you say in your letters. I wish you meant it. I am glad you said you would like to
see me personally because I thought my pictures scared you so that you would
even be afraid to write anymore. I
am sending you a bit of my hair so you can judge for yourself whether I am
blounde [sic] or not. So you will not ask me if I like
to lie once in a while.
Dearie I forgive you for that.
Must Close
Your
doll
Betty
x plus 1000001
times"
The brief fling through letters provided
excitement for both the flirtatious teenager and the flirtatious soldier.
There were many other ladies in Lew’s photo
collection, some with names, some unknown. One wrote on her photo, “Your darling Genevieve,” but she may not have been Lew’s darling for long. The next summer, 1920, he was back in Sonoma County, working in the orchards, and saving money for his own place.[10] He drove his Model T out of the
farmer’s garage where it had been stored, ready to take the next lady for a
drive. No more letters and photos;
now he could pursue the ladies in person.
 |
| "Your darling Genevieve" |
 |
| Lew in his 1917 or 1918 Model T Ford |
Genealogical Summary
Kandido R. “Lew” Lewis, son of Candido Luis and
Rosa Azevedo, was born 12 August 1893 in Jewell, Marin County, California.[11] On 3 July 1932 he married Essie Jane
Elizabeth Stewart at the Presbyterian Church in San Anselmo, Marin County.[12] He died in Napa, Napa County,
California, 20 August 1984.[13] Lew and Essie had no children.
[1] K. R. “Lew” Lewis photo
collection, ca. 1915 to early 1930s, about 350 photos; in possession of the author. Alice Streeter
Kellar, Lew’s niece, received his trunk and the photo collection from his widow
Essie (Stewart) Lewis about 1994.
The photos passed to Alice's daughter Judy Kellar Fox on Alice’s passing in
2004. The photos have been digitized and
provide these illustrations.
[2] Velda Draper (Elva’s
granddaughter), San Rafael, California, to Judy Kellar Fox, email, 4 December
2012, “Elva McCollum, yes yes”; files of the author.
[3] United States, Selective
Service System, World War I Selective
Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, California, Sonoma
County, arranged alphabetically by surname, for Kandido Lewis; Washington,
D.C., National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), micropublication
M1509; Family History Library (FHL) microfilm 1,544,406.
[4] K. R. Lewis photograph,
fall 1918, from K. R. “Lew” Lewis photo collection; files of Judy Kellar
Fox. The photo, 2 1/2” x 3 1/4”,
is inscribed (recto), “ Camp Mills, L[ong]. I[sland]. N. Y.,” and (verso),
“Pvt. K. R. Lewis, Co. C. 12th Inf.” Also, United States, Army, Twelfth Infantry, Twelfth U. S. Infantry, 1798-1919: Its
Story—By Its Men (New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1919), 366.
[5] K. R. Lewis, travel journal
recounting his trip by troop train from Camp Fremont, California, to Camp
Mills, New York, 22-30 October 1918; Sonoma County Museum, Santa Rosa,
California. Transcription made by
Judy Kellar Fox in 1994 before her mother, Alice Streeter Kellar, donated the
journal to the Museum. All
spelling, punctuation, and grammar are as written by K. R. Lewis.
[6] Twelfth U. S. Infantry, 1798-1919: Its Story—By Its Men, 147.
[7] Ibid., 150.
[8] Katka56 [Kathi, Farrell],
comp., “Lucas Hall Family Tree 2013,” Ancestry.com
(http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 September
2013), entry for Jeanette A. Richofsky (1901-1970), citing Jeanette’s passport.
[9] Betty [Jeanette Richofsky]
(1321 Clinton Ave., Richmond, Cal.), to Mr. Kenn Lewis (Co C. 12th
Inf, Army Supply Base, No 3652008, Norfolk, Va.), letter, 8 February 1918, 1,
4. The letter, inherited by Lew’s
niece Alice Streeter Kellar and passed to her daughter Judy Kellar Fox, has
been forwarded to “Betty’s” granddaughter Kathi Farrell, Durham, California. Letter and photo used by permission.
[10] 1920 U. S. Census, Sonoma
County, California, population schedule, Sonoma, ED 162, sheet 2A, dwelling 29,
family 3, Frederick A. Lowell household, line 15; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 September 2013); from NARA microfilm
publication T625, roll 150.
[11] Marin
County, California, Delayed Certificate of Birth no. 098589 (1957), Kandido
Rufus Lewis; County Recorder, San Rafael; FHL microfilm 1,295,780, item 5. Also, 1900 U.S. Census, Marin County,
California, population schedule, Tomales Township, ED 63, sheets 1-2 (penned),
dwelling 16, family 16, C. Lewis household; digital image, Ancestry.com
(http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 3 September 2013); from NARA microfilm
publication T623, roll 93.
[12] Marin
County, California, Marriage License no. 4175[?] (1932), Kandido R. Lewis-Essie
Jane Elizabeth Stewart; Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk, San Rafael.
[13] Kandido R. "Lew"
Lewis, funeral card, 23 August 1984, printed by an unidentified Napa,
California, mortuary; photocopy in possession of the author. Also, Tulocay Cemetery
(Napa, California), Kandido R. Lewis marker; photographed by Jack J. or Alice
M. Kellar, 1980s; photocopy in possession of the author.
