The celebration of Black History Month during February provides an opportunity to learn about people that have touched the lives of others in a variety of ways, which certainly describes 87-year-old Frances Lewis.
Lewis, who was the “knee baby” — second youngest child — in a family of seven children that made their home on Joseph Campau, two blocks south of Gratiot, in Detroit’s former Black Bottom neighborhood. She grew up to become a wife, mother, 32-year Detroit Public Schools teacher, community servant, grandmother, world traveler, caregiver, two-time breast cancer survivor, present-day girlfriend to a gentleman six years her senior and more.
“I’m the last survivor of my generation in my family, and my nieces and nephews are always asking me questions about the early lives of their fathers and mothers, so I wanted to write the book for them,” said Lewis, who was the second youngest child of Joseph and Ellen Williams and a proud sister to Robert, Pocahontas, Juanita, Thomas, Herbert and Richard. “I also wanted to share my life story with other people as well. How many people do you know that had five kids in four years and then went back to school and got a master’s degree? I’ve been through some difficult things, too, like surviving two near fatal accidents. And before my husband (Amos Lewis Sr.) died, he was sick for 10 years and I kept my vows, and I know if things were reversed he would have done the same.
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