TESTIMONIAL TO A SURVIVOR.

Byline: Jim Feehan The Register-Guard

Twenty-one thousand volts of electricity coursed through Bill Lewis' body exactly 40 years ago Saturday in an industrial accident. But the electrical charge didn't strike his heart, or break his spirit.

On Saturday, about 75 friends and family members gathered at Wesley United Methodist Church in Eugene for a sort of "This is Your Life" celebration commemorating the 71-year-old Mohawk resident's four decades of courage.

Lewis, employed as a general foreman, suffered severe electrical burns to 30 percent of his body while working on Foster Dam at Sweet Home in 1964. He was coiling a "dead" wire on an old farm on the bank of the South Santiam River when the wire came in contact with a "hot" wire, sending the electricity through his body.

He endured painful skin grafting and the constant threat of infection. He eventually lost his right arm and two fingers in his left hand, his left ear and all of the muscle mass in his abdomen.

But he refused to quit or slow down, as several of the photos that lined the walls of the church fellowship hall Saturday - showing him fly-fishing the McKenzie River or operating his Caterpillar tractor, for example - made clear.

Other pictures show Lewis walking his eldest daughter, Cindy Cargile, down the aisle at her wedding, and another with his youngest daughter, Bea Anne Allaire, graduating from law school at Tulane University in New Orleans. More recent photos show him spending time with his grandchildren.

"It's amazing that he survived," said Cargile, of Kirkland, Wash. "But he doesn't let much beat him, and I attribute that to his strength of character."

Cargile was 4 years old at the time of her father's accident. She wasn't allowed in her father's hospital room, so she made Barbie clothing in the waiting room at Sacred Heart General Hospital.

"I remember having tuna-fish sandwiches and milkshakes at Woolworth's in downtown Eugene," she said.

Evelyn Alford was just six months out of nursing school when she took a job as a private duty nurse in Eugene. Lewis was one of her first patients.

"He looked like a corpse," she recalled Saturday.

Besides attending to his medical needs, Alford read Field and Stream magazine articles to Lewis (he was suffering from cataracts) and periodically wheeled him to the hospital roof to escape the confines of his 10-by-15-foot hospital room, she said.

"His strong will made the difference," she said.

After Alford and a stream of others shared their tributes, Lewis came to the microphone to express his gratitude. "I wasn't supposed to be here, and I'm still not supposed to be here," he began.

He mentioned some of the people who took pity on him over the years - including a food server at a restaurant in Louisiana who carefully diced his order of chicken-fried steak.

The years have also brought their share of unkind stares and comments. But Lewis is philosophic: "If they don't like my looks, I don't need them as a friend," he said.

Through it all has been his wife, Anita, who met him in 1955 while he was a crew chief for a B-47 bomber at Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma.

Anita Lewis, who organized Saturday's celebration, thanked her husband for surviving his accident and said she looked forward to growing old with him.

"Don't walk in front of me because I don't follow well," she said. "Don't walk behind me because I'm not the best leader. Just let me walk by your side and be your right-hand girl."

CAPTION(S):

Anita Lewis looks up to her husband, Bill, after a party that his family and friends threw to celebrate 40 years of surviving a severe electric shock. Despite the setback, Lewis never felt sorry for himself and became an inspiration to others for his positive attitude. Kevin Clark / The Register-Guard C e l e b r a t i o n Bill Lewis met Anita Venable while serving in the Air Force in Oklahoma in 1955. They married in 1956. Kevin Clark / The Register-Guard Forty years to the day that Bill Lewis (center) suffered a severe electric shock, his family and friends surprised him with a party to celebrate his courage in overcoming his injuries. Lewis laughs with friends Dennis and Cindy Randall at Wesley United Methodist Church in Eugene.