Roger Lewis (22 Mar 1945 - 25 Feb 2018)

Roger was born on the 22nd March 1945, the only child to Nelly and Reginald Lewis and so began the life of the man that people gathered here today were proud to call husband, father, grandfather or friend. He grew up in Riddings and attended the local school, he didn’t really enjoy school as he struggled with being left handed but it was here where he met Terry Olney and developed a friendship that would last a lifetime. The two teenagers got up to the usual mischief that young lads do including messing about with cars and indulging an interest in photography and music, Terry recalls Roger once playing Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture so loud on his best radiogram it literally made the house shake. In the early 1960s Roger started tinkering and pottering with engines & machines, a fascination that would continue both at work & home in the family shed & garage for many years to come.

In 1966 Roger went on a blind date with a young lady called Patricia Wilson, it must have gone well as two years later they married on her 21st birthday in September 1968. They initially lived in Riddings and later moved to Derby Road Ripley after a short while living in a caravan.
In 1974 they were blessed with the birth of an only daughter Amanda Jane & In 1977 the family moved to Fletcher street Ripley, where Roger despite being a solitary man became well known in the White Swan & the Butterley and Jubilee clubs. It was at Fletcher Street where Roger was happiest either pottering in the garage, sat in his vest in the Summer sunshine up the garden, spending time with Amanda while Pat was at work in the evenings, watching storms, dancing to Uptown Girl or enjoying a taste of his potent homebrew in company with the neighbours.

Roger initially worked as a mechanic at the Co-op garage before spending 20 years as a jig maker at Caplan before being made redundant in the 1990s, he then spent the later part of his working life at Abrasive foam in Somercotes.

In later life he enjoyed many coach holidays around Britain especially in Scotland or at the seaside with Pat, the odd trip abroad, C.B radio, attending air shows with Darren especially ones containing his beloved Vulcan bomber and excelled in a new role of “Gan Gan “to granddaughter Lia. As she was the apple of his eye one of the real highlights of retirement to Roger was walking Lia to school in the morning and picking her up at the end of the school day.

He retired aged 65 but was cruelly diagnosed with dementia just 3 short years later. After retirement he became a familiar sight to many in Ripley either trudging around town just behind Pat in his ever-present flat cap, enjoying a coffee in the Angel, standing patiently outside a shop or sat in the Co-op chatting away to passes by while waiting for Pat to re-join him after completing the shopping. A break from this dreaded shopping trip was provided by Terry who took him on long walks into the Derbyshire Countryside which Roger loved as he said the quiet country lanes and footpaths provided a break from the hustle and bustle of Ripley and it always ended with a welcome coffee and piece of chocolate cake. Although he never lost his dry sense of humour his health deteriorated quickly over recent years and after a brave fight against his condition he sadly passed away surrounded by his family in Kingsway hospital Derby on 25th February 2018.

Roger was a man of few words but if he said something he meant it, even sometimes if it was tongue in cheek. He will be sorely missed, both by his family and his friends. But as he rests from his life’s long trials, this husband, father, grandfather and friend should know that he has made his family proud. The world is most definitely a better place because of the life of Roger Lewis.

“When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure”