James Thomas Lewis, Jr.

James Thomas Lewis, Jr., 83, passed away on Saturday, February 22, 2025.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at 2:00 pm on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, at Union United Methodist Church in Irmo, with a graveside service following at Bush River Memorial Gardens.  The family will receive friends from 6:00 p.m until 8:00 p.m. on Monday, February 24, 2025, at Temples-Halloran Funeral Home.

A native of Cary, North Carolina, James Thomas was born at home on March 22, 1941, to J.T. Lewis and Luna Jane Stone Lewis.  He was a lifelong Wolfpack fan and graduated from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Science.  After graduating from college, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, serving as an artillery officer in the United States Army.

In 1966, the family relocated to the Columbia area and he began working as a foreman at Allied  Chemical Company. He worked in nearly every department of “the Plant” until retiring from  senior management at Honeywell in 1999.  While at Allied, he earned a Masters in Business  Administration from the University of South Carolina and also received training as an  Emergency Medical Technician.

Jim was a member of Union United Methodist Church, where he served in a variety of ways  throughout his life, but was most fond of his years as one of the girl’s basketball team coaches, along with George Dick.  He always enjoyed watching his son play church basketball and helped to start the girls basketball program so that his daughters could play too.  Over his 8 years as a coach in 1983-1991, he had a positive impact on dozens of girls, instilling in them the values of sportsmanship, teamwork, and hard work.

Jim will be remembered for his quick wit and mischievous personality, especially by the  residents and staff at Wellmore of Lexington where he lived in recent years.  In addition to his sense of humor, he will be remembered for his love of God and country and devotion to the family he created with his beloved wife, Carol Anne. That family includes his children and grandchildren, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, great nieces, and nephews and one great  grandchild, Riley Ann.

In addition to his parents, he is predeceased by his sisters, Jane Caldwell and Joy Moore, his  sisters-in-law, Lynne Kannan and Lynn Pyles, and his brothers-in-law, Michael Kannan and Steve Pyles.

Those left to cherish his memory include his wife of 61 years, Carol Anne Pyles Lewis; his son, Mark Lewis of Prosperity; his daughters Kathy James (Joseph) of Sumter and Debbie Anderson  of Chapin, as well as his grandchildren, Trey Lewis (Taylor) and Alex Lewis of McDowell County, North Carolina; Aaron James of Central; Joe James of Arlington, Virginia; Lewis James of Cayce; Will Anderson of Enterprise, Alabama; and Caroline Anderson of Charleston; one brother-in-law, Billy Moore of Lenoir, North Carolina; ten nieces and nephews and their spouses; many great-nieces and great-nephews; and his faithful dog Bandit.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Union United Methodist Church, 7582  Woodrow Street, Irmo, SC 29063, unionirmo.org.

Temples-Halloran Funeral Home proudly assists the Lewis family in their time of grief.