Louanne Lewis

SHREVEPORT, LA - Louanne Lewis, known to her friends as Lou, died Sunday, September 7, 2014 after a brief illness. Graveside services will be held on Wednesday, September 10, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. at Forest Park Mausoleum. Rabbi Dr. Jana De Benedetti will be officiating. Lou was born in Portland, Oregon on December 28, 1932. She was the daughter of a coal fired locomotive engineer and a housewife and mother. She was preceded in death by her parents, two sisters, and one brother. Lou grew up in Michigan and chose to be raised primarily by her maternal grandparents while her mother raised Lou's younger siblings. Lou has four daughters and nine grandchildren. Throughout her life, Lou worked as a dress buyer and clothing sales person; but ultimately obtained her BSN and worked primarily as a medical/surgical and psychiatric nurse at several Shreveport hospitals. Wonderfully, Lou met the love of her life and soul mate in 1979. She invited her neighbor, Dr. Justin Wolfson, to her nearby home for a home cooked meal under the cover of darkness. Today, nearby neighbors confess that they were in the dark for many years regarding Lou and Justin's relationship. Lou and Justin were together for the next 32 years. They worked in their respective professions of nursing and radiology for 25 of their 32 years together. They also travelled the world together and took great care of each other. Lou claimed to have had what few people achieve in marriage. After his death in 2012, Lou missed Justin until the day of her death. She did not fear death and looked forward to seeing Justin again. To her friends, Lou was always gracious. She was bright and had a great sense of humor. She was a critical thinker and a democrat; she was not judgmental. Lou and several of her friends wrote this account of her life because as her friends would say, this was too important to be left up to Lou alone. Lou thanks her "Committee" who helped her through the days since Justin's death. She would like to thank her doctors, Dr. Alan Borne, Dr. Mark Vigen, Dr. Himanshu Desai, Dr. Michael Gooszen, and Dr. Scott Boniol for their expert care. Lou requested that if people want to honor her memory, please donate to your favorite charity-don't waste money on flowers.