10/26/2025
FUNERAL DIRECTOR GRAVES –
George Hermann Lewis, Sr.
August 20, 1891 - January 29, 1965
Founder & Funeral Director
Geo. H. Lewis & Sons Funeral Directors
Houston, Texas
HOUSTON, TX. – Geo. H. Lewis, president and the founder of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons Funeral Directors, died at thirty-five minutes past seven o’clock in the morning on Friday, the 29th of January 1965, at Hermann Hospital in Houston. He was 73.
A native and lifelong Houstonian, Lewis always insisted that his first name be spelled Geo., never George. He attended the old Fannin School, where classes went from elementary through high school grades. He attended The University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee, and The University of Texas at Austin.
He managed the Stratford Hotel for a time. About 1919 he went into the business with his uncle, Charles Edward “Ed” Settegast (1877-1927), founder of the Settegast-Kopf Company Funeral Home, and served as president of the company. In 1936, Lewis went into business for himself with his four sons, George Hermann Lewis, Jr. (1917-1980), Gus Dreyling Lewis (1919-2005), Norman Francis Lewis (1920-1995), and Bob Gray Lewis (1923-2009), founding Geo. H. Lewis & Sons. He was also one of the founders of Memorial Oaks Cemetery, also in Houston.
Lewis was a member of Temple Lodge Number 4, AF & AM; the Scottish Rite Bodies, Arabia Temple Shrine, the Houston Elks Lodge, and the Executive Association. He was a member of the Calvary Episcopal Church at Sugar Land.
In 1949, he began growing orchids as a hobby. He was so successful that florists bought all he could grow, and he found himself in a busy commercial venture.
Lewis remained as active head of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons until his death. He underwent surgery 10 days prior to his death, and Friday morning his heart failed, relatives said.
Funeral services were held at ten o’clock in the morning on Monday, the 1st of February 1965, at the Sage Road Chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons. Entombment followed in the Chapel of the Oaks Mausoleum at Memorial Oaks Cemetery in Houston.
Funerary Collection of Steven R. Bailey
Obituary Summary by Steven R. Bailey
