Domestic violence victim eulogized

Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2006

Several hundred mourners crowded the Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church in Fort Washington Tuesday to pay their last respects to Jackie Mae Lewis, the victim of an Oct. 4 murder-suicide in Fort Washington. Among the attendees was Yvette Cade, herself a domestic violence survivor-turned-activist, who sustained third-degree burns a year ago after her estranged husband, Robert Hargrave, doused her with gasoline, then set her alight.

Lewis, 57, was shot by her boyfriend, Arthur Jake Comer, also 57, who then shot himself.

Lewis had been a postal service employee for 38 years, and a large contingent of her coworkers attended today’s service. In a moving tribute, the Rev. Barbara Ridley, one of the pastors at Ebenezer AME Church, denounced domestic violence.

‘‘Her life was far bigger than the circumstances of her horrific death,” said Ridley, whose sermon not only praised the life of Lewis, but also urged the need for community action against domestic violence.

‘‘Where does the church take this issue of domestic violence? Ridley asked. ‘‘There is no room for that, or any kind of violence. If Jackie were here today, she would tell us to take something from her death, and make something good out of it.”

Lewis is survived by her daughter Chyra; sisters Gloria B. Sheppard and Diane Jones of North Carolina; brothers Lonnie Britten and James Flannigan; and several other relatives. She will be buried in Kingston, N.C. on Oct. 14.