The Lewises used their money to create a path to Lexington for more bright young West Virginians.

Kara Cunningham Williams, another Charleston lawyer and former Lewis scholar, grew up in Sissonville. Like Aliff, she started college in 1986. She remembers Elizabeth Lewis visiting and taking the scholarship recipients out to dinner. 

"It meant the world to me," she said of the scholarship. "It opened up numerous possibilities and allowed me to come out of undergraduate school debt-free. The preparation you get there enables you to succeed in any kind of endeavor."

In her case, that next endeavor was Harvard Law School.

Now Williams sits on the committee that helps pick the recipients of Lewis scholarships each year. As the Lewises wanted, first consideration is given to graduates of Oak Hill High School, followed by students from all of Fayette County and then all of West Virginia.

Charleston lawyer Ben Bailey also has been involved in the selection process. Both Williams and Bailey wish more students were aware of the scholarship.

While Washington and Lee has become increasingly selective since it began admitting women 24 years ago, West Virginia students who gain admittance have a decent chance of receiving a Lewis scholarship.

Other West Virginians have established scholarship funds at W&L, but not on this scale.

There are currently 18 undergraduate Lewis scholars on campus and six more in the law school.

While no one would reveal the size of the endowment, the full tuition the scholarship provides would total nearly $870,000 for that number of students this year. The scholarships are funded with the endowment's  earnings, not the principal. 

Elizabeth McDowell Lewis outlived her husband by nearly 30 years, passing away in June 1999 at the age of 90.

She held a commerce degree from Marshall University and served on the bank board in Oak Hill after her husband's death.

Even as she carried out her husband's wishes with respect to Washington and Lee, she supported her own alma mater.

She gave so generously that Marshall's business school is called the Elizabeth McDowell Lewis School of Business.

In a couple of weeks, my family will sit on the sloping lawn between the row of historic buildings known as the Colonnade and the Lee Chapel at W&L. I will watch my son, a Lewis scholar, receive his degree.

For four years, I have wondered about the people who made it possible for him to attend this shining jewel of a school.

I have enjoyed unearthing their story and hope it reaches some bright kids who are considering their college options.

My son is off to graduate school in the fall, and there will be no scholarship this time.

But the Lewises have given him one heck of a head start.

Friend is editor and publisher of the Daily Mail. She may be reached at 304-348-5124 or nan...@dailymail.com.

They were quiet people, successful in business and active in their Oak Hill church.

They had no children of their own, but they took in a young cousin after his father died, and made sure he went to college.

They didn't stop with him.

J. Edward and Elizabeth Lewis have put dozens of West Virginia students through college and will do so far into the future.

Charleston lawyer Rob Aliff, who grew up in Oak Hill, knew Mrs. Lewis from church.

"She came up to me on a Sunday and handed me the keys to her Cadillac," Aliff said. "She said, 'I've spoken to your parents and you're mine today. We're going to Lexington, Va' "

She wanted him to visit the college her husband, Ed, had attended. The class of 1929 at Washington and Lee University came to be known as "the banker class" because so many of its members did well in that profession. Ed was no exception.

He joined the Oak Hill insurance business started by his father. He also bought stock in New River Banking and Trust Co. Eventually he took a seat on its board and rose to the presidency.

He also served on the board of Amherst Coal, a company with origins in the late 1800s. Lewis family members were early investors, said Charlie Jones, head of Amherst Industries, one of the spinoff companies.

Ed died suddenly of a heart attack in 1971. He was only 63, but his affairs were in order. His estate was structured first to take care of his wife and then to help his church, Oak Hill United Methodist, and to provide scholarships at Washington & Lee.

After Ed's death, the value of his estate apparently soared. Among other developments, Diamond Shamrock bought Amherst Coal for $220 million.   

Meanwhile, Elizabeth stepped out of the background and made sure her husband's intentions were carried out.

"She just kind of blossomed and came to the forefront in leadership," said Joe Lewis, the cousin the couple took in after his father, Stewart, died.

Rob Aliff recalled the day he drove Elizabeth's car to Lexington. She showed him the Washington & Lee campus and introduced him to people.

"That's when I fell in love with W&L," he said.

His father had worked as a coal miner and school bus driver, and Rob was the first member of his family to go to college. At Washington & Lee, he was to encounter students from a variety of backgrounds, including elite boarding schools, from all over the United States and beyond.

"I was the only kid from a rural West Virginia location," he said.

W&L, a liberal arts college steeped in history and tradition, has a student body of about 1,750. It is sharply focused on undergraduate education and has no graduate-level programs other than a fine law school. All faculty members have doctorate or professional degrees, and the student-faculty ratio is 8 to 1.

West Virginians have been attending the school, which is less than three hours from Charleston, for generations. A fair number of local attorneys are graduates of its law school.

But it is private and expensive.

The Lewises used their money to create a path to Lexington for more bright young West Virginians.

Kara Cunningham Williams, another Charleston lawyer and former Lewis scholar, grew up in Sissonville. Like Aliff, she started college in 1986. She remembers Elizabeth Lewis visiting and taking the scholarship recipients out to dinner. 

"It meant the world to me," she said of the scholarship. "It opened up numerous possibilities and allowed me to come out of undergraduate school debt-free. The preparation you get there enables you to succeed in any kind of endeavor."

In her case, that next endeavor was Harvard Law School.

Now Williams sits on the committee that helps pick the recipients of Lewis scholarships each year. As the Lewises wanted, first consideration is given to graduates of Oak Hill High School, followed by students from all of Fayette County and then all of West Virginia.

Charleston lawyer Ben Bailey also has been involved in the selection process. Both Williams and Bailey wish more students were aware of the scholarship.

While Washington and Lee has become increasingly selective since it began admitting women 24 years ago, West Virginia students who gain admittance have a decent chance of receiving a Lewis scholarship.

Other West Virginians have established scholarship funds at W&L, but not on this scale.

There are currently 18 undergraduate Lewis scholars on campus and six more in the law school.

While no one would reveal the size of the endowment, the full tuition the scholarship provides would total nearly $870,000 for that number of students this year. The scholarships are funded with the endowment's  earnings, not the principal. 

Elizabeth McDowell Lewis outlived her husband by nearly 30 years, passing away in June 1999 at the age of 90.

She held a commerce degree from Marshall University and served on the bank board in Oak Hill after her husband's death.

Even as she carried out her husband's wishes with respect to Washington and Lee, she supported her own alma mater.

She gave so generously that Marshall's business school is called the Elizabeth McDowell Lewis School of Business.

In a couple of weeks, my family will sit on the sloping lawn between the row of historic buildings known as the Colonnade and the Lee Chapel at W&L. I will watch my son, a Lewis scholar, receive his degree.

For four years, I have wondered about the people who made it possible for him to attend this shining jewel of a school.

I have enjoyed unearthing their story and hope it reaches some bright kids who are considering their college options.

My son is off to graduate school in the fall, and there will be no scholarship this time.

But the Lewises have given him one heck of a head start.

Friend is editor and publisher of the Daily Mail. She may be reached at 304-348-5124 or nan...@dailymail.com.