Jerry Edgar Lewallen

Live your life in a manner so that when you die the world cries and you rejoice.

Native American Proverb

JERRY EDGAR LEWALLEN, 70, of Plano, Texas, passed peacefully from this life on Thursday, May 14, surrounded by loved ones, after a 2-year battle with Prostate Cancer.

He was born on June 9, 1944, in Louellen, Kentucky, to Hazel and Luther Lewallen, and was raised in Mount Hope, West Virginia, where he was actively involved in musical and theatrical interests of all sorts in school and church. Jerry studied music education at Georgetown College before he was drafted into the army to serve as a postal clerk at the Presidio in San Francisco.

His early adult years were spent in Cleveland, Ohio, where he met Donald George, his devoted life partner of 43 years. They moved to Plano in 1985 at the invitation of Jerry’s brother Lynn and they made a wonderful life together in Texas. Jerry worked in accounting management at The Dallas Morning News and at Baylor Heart Hospital in Plano.

Mr. Lewallen loved reading, history, movies, and music - making music throughout his life, as a fine baritone singer, playing the baritone horn, and directing and accompanying church choirs in his younger years. In adulthood he was a member of The Dallas Symphony Chorus and a much-loved member of the choirs of Saint Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in Plano.

Jerry made friends of all stripes, loving people as they were, and opening himself to be loved in return. He was an inspiration to many as his profound faith in God buoyed him up in the valley of the shadow of death.

Mr. Lewallen was pre-deceased by his longtime companion, Donald George, by his parents, Hazel and Luther A. Lewallen, and by his half-brother Lynn M. Lewallen and half-sister Vada Lewellan Deck. He is survived by his brother, Luther A. Lewallen, Jr. (L.A.), and nephew, Christopher L. Lewallen, both of West Virginia; half-brother Donald W. Lewallen of Montana, and half-sister Betty M. Knox of California; his nephews Mike Deck and Bruce Deck of Tennessee; his beloved dog Benjamin, and so many close friends who embraced Jerry as family.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 6:30pm on June 9, 2015, at Saint Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church, 1201 Alma Drive in Plano. In lieu of flowers, Jerry requested consideration of a donation to the Saint Mark Music Ministry or Grief Ministry.