(Founded Prayer Chapel In Bryan)
Reverend Rose E. Lewis, age 90, of Bryan, Ohio, went to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, at 7:00 A.M. on Friday, June 23, 2023, after a brief illness.
Reverend Lewis was a lifelong missionary and evangelist for Jesus, spreading forth His love and compassion to all she met.
Her missionary work took her and her husband, Gil, to twenty-two countries around the world such as Ghana, Philippines, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Peru, to name a few.
Her mission field ranged from her neighborhood to a leper colony, death row in a prison, and even to the headhunters in the jungles, providing aid to the sick and spreading God’s word and the compassion of our Savior.
Rose and Gil founded the Prayer Chapel in Bryan in 1975, where they co-pastored until 2015. She then became Pastor Emeritus.
Rose never quit counseling those in need or spreading God’s word, love, and compassion of Jesus and will be long remembered as a prayer warrior.
Throughout her lifetime Rose was a florist, a cook for church camp, social worker in the ghetto, an evangelist, missionary, pastor, and a mother to many around the world.
She had a thirst for knowledge, graduating from Dayton High School in Dayton, Oregon, and then going to Bethany Bible College in California, San Jose State, Warner Pacific Bible College, and then to Fresno Community College, receiving an Associate’s Degree in Social Work.
She then went on to get her Bachelor’s Degree in Religion from Defiance College in 1988. Even though she knew the importance of education, it was the revelation through the Holy Spirit in God’s word that she valued most.
Rose E. Lewis was born on September 4, 1932, in Kadoka, South Dakota, the daughter of Orville and Hazel (Shuller) Hampton.
She married Gilbert W. Lewis on May 15, 1954, in San Jose, California, and he preceded her in death on May 2, 2015.
Survivors include one son, Jeffrey (Nancy) Lewis, of Bryan; three grandchildren, Timothy (Theresa) Lewis, of Toledo, Ohio, Andrew (Rebekah) Lewis, of Dayton, Ohio, and Melissa (Phillip) Fox, of Delaware, Ohio; five great-granddaughters; two great-grandsons; one sister, Mary Tucker, of Tillamook, Oregon; and many nieces and nephews.
She was also preceded in death by two sisters, Lois Prokop and Violet Balzer, and four brothers, Harry, Leslie, Donald, and Russell Hampton.
A celebration of Reverend Rose E. Lewis’s life will take place on Monday, July 3, 2023, at 10:30 A.M. in the Krill Funeral Home, 860 West Mulberry Street, Bryan, led by her family. The family will receive visitors for one hour prior to the service, beginning at 9:30 A.M. in the funeral home. Private interment has taken place in Shiffler Cemetery near Bryan.
Memorials are requested to Gideons International or to the Prayer Chapel Missionary Fund.