ROANOKE, Va. (AP) - Peacemaker. Mountain man. Homesteader. Activist. Dedicated son and father. Farmer of food and community.
Friends and family of John Lewis remembered him this week not only as the scion of a Roanoke family known for uplifting those who struggle, but also for his personal commitment to at-risk youth.
“He had a unique ability to connect with people, and kids in particular,” John’s father, Peter Lewis said. “As tragic as his untimely death is, the thing is, he packed a whole lot of time into his life. He kept his focus on serving others.”
John Lewis was found dead in a home in Roanoke County on Monday. He was 37.
Peter Lewis said his son is suspected to have choked on a piece of food while alone. His remains were sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Roanoke County for autopsy, and the results are pending.
John grew up in Roanoke but spent much of his childhood at Apple Ridge Farm, the nonprofit summer camp for urban, at-risk children founded by the elder Lewis in Floyd County in 1989. There John developed an abiding love of nature and a connection to the land.
“He was a mountain man,” Peter Lewis said. As an adult, “he would spend the night in the woods by himself. Even as a youngster he’d go out all day in the woods and come back at dark.”
Lewis recalled one chilly Saturday in March when John was a small boy. He went off as usual by himself, but didn’t return from the woods when expected.
“I was calling and calling for him. I had to drive about a mile down the road and hike down to find him,” Lewis said. “He had just taken a wrong turn in the woods.”
As a young man, John moved to Richmond, where he worked at a range of jobs and attended Virginia Commonwealth University. In all he spent 14 years in the Virginia capital, eventually founding a nonprofit, Renew Richmond, to promote urban agriculture and food security.
He came back to Apple Ridge in 2016 at his father’s urging. Lewis was retiring and wanted his son to carry on the work of helping Roanoke’s at-risk children discover nature and to be inspired to pursue careers in STEM and other professions.
Roanoke City Council member Joe Cobb got to know John around that time, as John was expanding the outreach of Apple Ridge. Rather than just sending children from Roanoke to Floyd in the summers, as executive director John developed programs that brought Apple Ridge to the city.
“He wanted to make people in the city more aware of it and why it’s important to kids who maybe only know the block in which they live,” Cobb said. John wanted those children “to see the world differently, to experience it differently and just to expand their horizons.”
To do that, he started an urban farming initiative called “The Well,” Cobb said. Through it, John helped put abandoned lots in Northwest Roanoke into food production and taught kids not only to grow fresh food, but to cook it well, give it to the needy and sell it to others.
“I just remember how much delight the kids had in owning the experience,” Cobb said. “John was not a micromanager; he was an ‘empowerer.’ He helped them bring forward their confidence. He had a unique way of tapping into kids’ and, really, anyone’s spirit.”
In 2019, John stepped down as executive director of Apple Ridge. The organization released a statement this week.
“John Lewis grew up as an Apple Ridge kid in the truest sense. As an administrator, he brought vision and passion every day he worked to advance the Apple Ridge Farm mission,” the statement said. “Most importantly, he cared deeply about the futures he held in his hands. His work benefited so many children in our region.”
His leaving Apple Ridge surprised some in the community, Cobb said. “But I think it makes sense in some way.”
John had worked to expand the horizons of others and was moving into a time in his life when he needed to do the same thing, Cobb said.
“He was a lover and a poet and a peace-bringer and the fear calmer,” Cobb said. “He just had such an energetic peace about him that it emanated wherever he went.”
In addition to helping raise his two young sons, Elijah and Anais, John spent his time traveling abroad, his dad said, sometimes to very remote places. He also started a martial arts initiative called Infinite Way Circle and worked on food-related projects at Garden Song Eco Cafe.
And he continued to work to reduce food insecurity in Northwest Roanoke, Cobb said, collaborating with Healthy Roanoke Valley, United Way and Feeding Southwest Virginia on finding solutions.
“He was very passionate about providing better food and local food in that area,” said Pamela Irvine of Feeding Southwest Virginia. John was committed to “eliminating the food desert there and bringing more education and awareness to families and children about better food choices.”
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