JACKSON MAN MARKS 90 YEARS WITH GATHERING

Denver B. Lewis, a native of the Jackson area, celebrated his 90th birthday at an open house Saturday at the Monticello House east of Jackson.

Family, friends and well-wishers attended.

Born one of nine sons of Edward Richard and Mora Ford Lewis of Cape Girardeau County, he lived on the family's farm northwest of Jackson.

After graduating from Jackson High School in 1923, he worked at the Henderson Lumber Co. before moving to Chicago and 40 years of employment with the Quaker Oats Company.

Lewis married Wilma Martin, a local girl from the Millersville area. They had three children: Eugene of Fort Bragg, Calif.; Jo Ann of Elmhurst, Ill.; and Richard, of Louisville, Ky.

After retirement, Denver and Wilma moved to Florida, where Wilma died in 1992.

Denver then relocated back home to Jackson where three of his surviving brothers and a sister live. They are: Richard, Wilson and Truman Lewis, all of Jackson, and Vivian, who lives in Cape Girardeau.

The Lewis family descends from Joseph Lewis, who moved his family to Cape Girardeau County from New Madrid just after the earthquake of 1811.

Over 875 direct descendants of this family have been identified, many of them residing in the immediate area.