Mary Agnes (McCarville) Lewis

Mary Agnes McCarville Lewis 5/9/1928 to 6/24/2020

Donations in lieu of flowers to: 

Our Daily Bread (Baltimore city soup kitchen) c/o Catholic Charities, 320 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, Md 21201     www.cc-md.org  - contact Erin Boles 667-600-2021.

The Shrine of St. Anthony at the Franciscan Monastery

12290 Folly Quarter Rd, Ellicott City, MD 21042

shrineofstanthony.org - contact 410-531-2800

St. Francis Mission on the Rosebud Lakota Sioux Reservation 350 South Oak Street, PO Box 499, St. Francis, SD 57572 Sfmission.org contact - 605-747-2361

Mary Agnes McCarville Lewis passed away peacefully on June 24, 2020, at home surrounded by her family. She was 92. Mary Agnes was born in Mitchell, SD, on May 9, 1928, to James A. and Eva Smith McCarville, and raised in the town of Armour, SD. She is the beloved wife of Dr. Fred T. Lewis, mother of ten children, grandmother of 17, and great grandmother of four.

Mary Agnes and her parents moved to Wilmington, DE, in 1944. Mary Agnes went from a high school class with less than 30 to P.S. Dupont High School with a senior class larger than the population of her hometown. After high school, she graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in Elementary Education, while working throughout college on weekends at her parents’ corner store in Wilmington.

As a sophomore at the University of DE, Mary Agnes met the love of her life, Fred Lewis, in the campus dining hall where she worked during the week.  He was a slow eater. Dazzled by her smile, he introduced himself at the end of her shift. Fred had recently returned from military service in Europe and entered the University as a twenty-year old freshman. Upon graduation, Mary Agnes commenced teaching in Wilmington. Simultaneously, her fiancé, Fred, was accepted to the Veterinary College at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. After the first month apart, the two decided to speed up their wedding plans and married in December 1950. Immediately thereafter, Mary Agnes began teaching in Ithaca, NY, while Fred completed his veterinary training.

After her husband’s graduation from Vet School, the couple moved briefly to Williamsport PA, for Fred to start his veterinary career. The couple moved to Howard County, MD, in 1954, and Fred established the Lewis Veterinary Hospital.  Mary Agnes gave up teaching to manage the veterinary practice, to attend to the growing family, and to pursue her passion for philanthropy and community involvement.

The couple had ten children between 1951 and 1971.  Mary Agnes, with exceptional organizational abilities and a very engaging personality, remained extremely active in her children’s lives and in the community throughout her life.  In the late 1950s, Mary Agnes was one of the founders of Kindercare, Inc., which established the first kindergarten in the county.  Working with the county schools, the new kindergarten was placed for a brief period-of-time in the ‘first available space’ – Howard High School!  Mary Agnes was also president of the local chapter of the American Association of University Women in the 1960s, a member of the Howard County Garden Club, and organized and hosted of a local TV program highlighting the work of young women in Howard County in the early 70s. 

A devout Catholic, Mary Agnes played the organ at church services and served on the bereavement committee for many years at St. Louis Roman Catholic Church. In addition, she and her husband were involved in the PTA at St Louis School, where her children attended 1st through 8th grade.

All seven of her sons are Eagle Scouts, and all attribute their success in scouting in large part to the support and encouragement of their mother. Mary Agnes was recognized in 2014 by the Baltimore Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America as “Eagle Mom of the Year” for the example of community service and values that she exemplified.

In the early 1980s, Mary Agnes learned a ‘soup kitchen’ for homeless people in the city called Our Daily Bread (ODB). She served ODB for almost 40 years, until she could no longer due to her declining health.  She organized her parish at St Louis to provide complete meals once a month for ODB, collecting all the meals at her house, delivering, and serving the meals. In 2005, she was looking for a way to do more for ODB in honor of its 25th anniversary, so the Lewis family began hosting a charity polo match at their farm in Clarksville.  Over the next twelve years, the “Ten Oaks Cup” polo match raised over $500,000 for ODB.

For many years, Mary Agnes and Fred supported the St. Francis Mission on the Rosebud Lakota Sioux Reservation in SD, Howard County General Hospital, the Shrine of St. Anthony at the Franciscan Monastery, and St. Louis Church in Clarksville.

Mary Agnes is survived by her husband of 70 years, Dr. Fred Lewis, a renowned and beloved Veterinarian who has practiced in Howard County since 1954, children Rick (Suzy); Jim (Anne); Lynn; Tom (Vicki); Tim (Margaret); Joan Lewis Kennedy (Andy); Ted (Lori); Kathleen Lewis Schlichtmann (Don); Mike (Kim); and Jeff (Victoria). She is also survived by 17 grandchildren – Kristen (Dustin) Sorotsky & Kara (Wesley) Shearer; Nick (Lindsay), Jillian, & Melanie Kennedy; Alex Edwards; Danielle & Jake Schlichtmann; Ryan & Natalia Lewis; Kiera, Jared, & Samuel Lewis; Ben & Will Lewis; Federica & Raquel Lewis; and four great grandchildren – Hayley & Hunter Sorotsky, Emma Schlichtmann, and Landon Shearer.

Donaldson Funeral Home of Clarksville, P.A.

12540 Clarksville Pike, Rt 108

Clarksville, MD 21029

301-854-0095

Donaldsonfuneralhome.com  Anyone attending either event must don a facemask and strictly observe social distancing.

Viewing Sunday, 6/28/2020 3-6PM at the Funeral Home

Funeral – Family only due to COVID CONCERNS AND RESTRICTIONS – Monday, 6/29 11AM

We will celebrate Mom’s life next May when we can all get together again. If you have a compromised immune system, please just keep us in your prayers, stay home, and join us next May

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