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Note: BIO SNIPPET WRITTEN AUGUST 2002:
My name is James Ralph Lewis and I was born in Santa Monica California, in October, 1942. My Dad was Ralph Shelby Lewis and my Mom was Ruth Margene Holt Lewis (the Holt is her Dad's name, Nana Melton's first married name). Both my parents have passed on. I waited a long time to find the right life-partner but I did find her; Nancy Diane Patterson and I were married in November, 1989 in Upland CA. We have three great adopted kids: Ruth Anna Lewis (age 11), Lois Jean Lewis (age 11), and Richard Shelby Lewis (age 8). Nancy home schools our kids and I have been working from home for Lockheed Martin Corporation for five years.
When I was born, I was the first boy-child in the Melton clan since my Uncle Everett was born. My Dad worked for Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica during WW II. Once the war was over, we moved to Corpus Christi, TX. After completing high school in Corpus, we moved back to California and I went to El Camino and UCLA (at the recommendation of my Uncle Chan). I have a BS in Engineering from UCLA (class of '66). About 6 years ago, I completed an MBA from the University of Phoenix while we lived in Denver. After UCLA, I worked for Datapoint, TRW, Kaiser Steel, and Lockheed Aircraft (Ontario CA division), all in the mainframe computer area. During the early 1990's Lockheed opened up a central data center in Denver and I was able to transfer there from Lockheed Aircraft and manage the build-up of that facility. Once the Lockheed and Martin Marietta merger was completed, I moved into Datacenter Project Management and have managed the move and/or merger of all of the Lockheed Martin data centers. We moved, as a family, to South Carolina five years ago and, as I've said above, I work from home.
I've had two fights with Cancer. Eight years ago, I lost a kidney to cancer. The Dr's in Denver said that they got all of the cancer at that time. Last year, in November, I was diagnosed with Primary Liver Cancer and given only a short time to live. If you saw me in January, you would agree that this was the case. Suddenly, I turned around, and the reason that this happened, I believe is the prayer to God that many of you offered up for me. My weight is now holding steady at about 145 (down from 210) and I have fairly good energy. My challenge now is that I sleep a lot and a don't always have a clear mind. Because of the sleeping and clearness of mind, I went out on Short Term Disability last week from Lockheed. Hopefully, I can continue to improve and continue to overcome the cancer. Only the good Lord knows, for He is still in control.
My kids are healthy. Ruth is 1/4 Japanese and 3/4 Mexican. Lois is 1/2 White and 1/2 Eskimo. Richard is 1/2 White and 1/2 Black. Our own little United Nations. All love to Ice Skate and be active kids. We live on a small farm about 30 minutes from Greenville SC. We also raise pygmy goats for fun and have lots of dogs and cats as pets. In addition my my direct family, we have a extended family, from Nancy's side, that lives with us. JJ Patterson (Nancy's nephew), his wife Nikki, and their two children, Bryson (age 3) and Victoria (age 20 mos.) live with us. Nikki is PG again so we will have another little one in our house next February. Nancy's parents and sister live about 20-30 minutes away, and we see them often, especially at Church. Dr. Patterson, Nancy's dad, is a retired Professor of OT from Liberty University and is quite a writer about the OT. Nancy's sister, Lois, also works for Lockheed Martin, as a finance director for one of the many aircraft maintenance divisions. Nancy's brother, John Sr. is a pastor of a church in WA. We miss John and see him only about once a year.
We are all active in our church, Cross Roads Baptist Church. I'm a deacon and the head usher, although I have had to pull back a lot since my cancer showed up. Nancy teaches a Senior Ladies bible study and sings in the choir. We all are regular attendees and have found a real good church family. Our kids are active in the church youth group, especially the weekly Summer programs. Nikki runs the church nursery and teaches the 3-4 year olds. I'm also active in our Men's prayer group, so if you need any special prayers, let me know; we've been praying for TJ and the Seniors of the Melton family for some time. Although I don't always pass on to our Men's prayer group what may seem like prayer requests that come across the MeltonFamilyTree, I do pray for them.
My love to all of you; I have many good memories of our family get togethers in Santa Monica at Aunt Betty's home in the 60's and 70's. I also remember the good times with Uncle Everett and his clan. I don't want to leave anyone out but they are all good memories... where do I start... Patty Ann... the Davis'... oh... you ALL know what I mean.
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