In 1957, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy rifle team meets then-Vice President Richard M. Nixon. Cadet Jack Walter Lewis is the second full head to the right of Nixon, with a big grin, as you look at the photograph. This image was taken in Nixon's office on the occasion of the team's visit to the Washington, DC area to compete with the rifle teams of the U.S. Naval Academy and the University of Maryland. At the time, Jack was in his second year at the Academy, and was the third ranked rifleman on the varsity team. Always politically correct, Nixon shakes hands with the only cadet who was from the Vice President's home state of California. 

Jack is the grandson of George W. and Anna Belle (Miner) McCormick of Connellsville, Fayette County, PA. Today, he is retired from the Coast Guard and resides in Virginia with his wife Carol Surber Lewis. They enjoy performing with the Oriskany Strings, an old-time band playing southern gospel, old-time country and bluegrass music. (See our "Photo of the Month" for June 2005.) They also are active with helping to organize the Lewis Reunions, held in Western Pennsylvania and Virginia every few years. Jack and his brother Thomas have authored the definitive history of this branch of the family, The Lewis Family of Oliphant Furnace, PA, found in libraries throughout Western Pennsylvania, including the Uniontown Public Library.

Copyright © 2006 Mark A. Miner