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Lewis J. Wallace was born March 18, 1917, in Greeley, Colorado. He attended grade school and high school in Greeley and graduated from the University of Northern Colorado. He first came to Estes Park in the early 20's with his parents. His grandfather was a builder in Estes Park; that grandfather helped build the Estes Park Chalet (now known as Mary's Lake Lodge).
In 1946, Lew married Jane Anderson. They had 2 daughters. One daughter now lives in Seattle, Washington, where she is a child psychologist and the other is in Austin, Texas and works in advertising. He currently has 2 grandsons and 1 granddaughter. After Jane passed away, he married Dorothy; they currently have a condominium in Estes Park. Dorothy has two children (son and daughter) and five grandchildren.
Lew's work has always been in the field of music education and administration, an occupation that has taken him to many parts of the country. He has lived and worked in school districts in Chicago, Baton Rouge, Michigan (Sterling, and Grand Blank), Pendleton (Oregon), Salt Lake City and Cincinnati. He served the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor as national music consultant and field editor.
Lew joined SRA in 1972 and became a permanent resident of Estes Park in 1976 when he moved into his parent's home off Riverside Drive. While living in Estes Park, Lew has taken up several hobbies, including fishing ad reading. He has served as chairman of the board of the Upper Thompson Sanitation District. He proudly wore the red jacket as volunteer for the Chamber of Commerce and Visitor's Center for a number of years.
Lew remembers the early activities of SRA as dinners and programs in Stanley Park, the Lewiston Hotel and breakfasts at his home on Riverside Drive. Members rode to meetings and activities on horseback. Musical programs were presented by members and outside groups and trips were made to Grand Lake Lodge. Members made elaborate decorations for the programs; many of those are still in use. Some early members back then included Jack Lungstrum, Rex Baker, Henry Rood, Dr. Floyd Beelman, Rev. Philip Lewis, Ted Chittwood and Dr. Bill McCreery. SRA served the community and made contributions to Rocky Ridge Music Center as well as the Estes Park Library through the years. Lew recalls that the locals of Estes Park thought of SRA members as quite wealthy and considered them a very unique group.
Lew has served in various capacities in SRA, including Vice President of programs and then President in 1977. He remembers Mildred Bohnsack making musical arrangements and Helen Lewis, a gifted singer and musician, serving in Bessie Chittwood's current position as leader of an SRA singing group.
Estes Park has experienced many changes since Lew first came here. Dirt roads throughout the town were quite common. Everybody, it seemed, rode horseback. Some of the early big homes were on Riverside Drive and the Colorado Governor even had a home up east of Fish Creek.