RIP Jewel Lewis-Hall : The lady who dedicated her front porch to Michael Jackson

myosotis

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I remember posting a thread about Ms Lewis -Hall in October 2011 here:

http://www.mjjcommunity.com/forum/t...r-front-porch-to-Michael-Jackson-(press-art-)

The 56-year-old elementary school cafeteria worker drew attention to herself when she turned the front porch of her Northeast Washington home into a shrine to the King of Pop after his untimely death in June 2009. In an interview with The Post last June, Lewis-Hall said she wanted to keep Jackson’s presence close: “When someone that I love is gone, I still want to see them. And I can sit right here on my porch and, bam! I can see him.”

A year later, Lewis-Hall still feels that way.

Co-tended with adult daughter Maxcine Lewis, who lives at home, the porch memorial has only grown more elaborate. Larger portraits, hanging hearts and Christmas ornaments have been added to the array of Michael Jackson images and memorabilia.

The handmade “We’ll never say goodbye!” banner remains intact.

“It’s just something for me to just sit out and marvel at his pictures. You know, not believing he’s gone,” she says. “I still cry, I still think about what he would have been doing, and it’s a joy to see it because I’m constantly putting up new pictures.”

Husband Everett Hall says he has made his peace with the year-round porch display. “I just let her do what [she’s] gotta do,” says Hall, 56, a meat cutter at a local market.

Lewis-Hall is hoping to find the one special photo that will serve as the crowning jewel for her display. “I do have a big frame with a light made on it,” she says. “I’m waiting for one I can just put in that frame, and it’ll be my little getaway. Just something to continue to look at and just be glad that he was the man he was.”

The porch also doubles as a social space, with curious passersby stopping to chat.
“So many people — black, white, from Gallaudet and different places — [tell] me they’re glad that I could do something that they wish they could do,” Lewis-Hall says.

I was very upset to read today that this lady has very sadly died in a road accident. She sounded such a wonderful person. Sincere condolences to her family and all those in her community who I am sure will miss her very greatly. 'Gone too soon'.

Northeast D.C. grandmother paid tribute to King of Pop until the day she died

On the porch of Jewel Lewis-Hall’s Northeast Washington rowhouse Sunday afternoon, where family and friends gathered to mourn the 62-year-old grandmother, a framed portrait paid tribute to her favorite icon: the late King of Pop.

Lewis-Hall was known in the neighborhood for her cooking and generosity. But mostly she was known for her never-fading devotion to Michael Jackson.

Day after day, from Jackson’s death on June 25, 2009, to her own sudden death Saturday morning, Lewis-Hall decorated her front porch — north of the bustling H Street corridor — with a rotating display of Jackson memorabilia: photos, album covers, hats, posters, even a beaded glove. Sometimes, she would blast her favorite song, 1971’s “Got To Be There,” from a boombox on the patio. Other times, she would set up a television and play the pop star’s videos as passersby stopped to watch. And every year, to mark the anniversary of Jackson’s death, she would invite the whole neighborhood over to pay tribute to Jackson with a feast of burgers, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and ice cream.

“All she wanted was for people to come past the house and celebrate his life with her,” said her daughter, Maxcine Lewis, 35.

“My mother’s from Lynchburg, Virginia, so she could cook a whole pig if you let her,” another daughter, Alicia Lewis, 39, recalled Sunday, fondly listing her mother’s staple dishes of ribs, fried chicken and barbecued pigs’ feet.

Lewis-Hall, a mother of four and grandmother to a dozen, worked nights as a custodian at Senate office buildings and days serving food at D.C. public schools. Saturday morning, about 11:10 a.m., three blocks from her home, police said she was fatally struck by a gray Honda Odyssey as she crossed H Street NE at 10th Street. Police said the vehicle had been turning left from 10th Street onto H, and Lewis-Hall ended up trapped under the vehicle.

No charges have been filed, and authorities say the circumstances of the accident remain under investigation.

In an instant, a family lost a matriarch, a neighborhood lost a guardian and the world lost a living tribute to the late King of Pop.

Jewel and Maxcine were the subject of a 2010 Washington Post article, “Northeast D.C. mom and daughter remain huge Michael Jackson fans.” Lewis-Hall recounted in the story how a shrine of 10 Jackson pictures grew to 25. At one point, a shade hung from the porch reading:

Michael Jackson

King of Entertainment

We’ll Never Say Good bye!

Love Always

Now, her children were preparing to incorporate the “Beat It” singer’s work into their mother’s funeral services.

“It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t,” Alicia said.

Lewis-Hall’s sister said their Jackson fanhood began decades ago.

“We grew up with Michael,” Georgia Duncan, 66, of Southeast Washington said Sunday. “I’ll play it when I get home, because there’ll be memories of her.”

The shrine on the porch began with a single photo placed there the day Jackson died, Lewis-Hall had told The Post. She said she just kept adding to it.

Lewis-Hall downsized the memorial over the years, but still kept it going. On Saturday, there were two photographs of Jackson next to a “Love you” sign.

Friends said Lewis-Hall was so often outside on her porch or in front of the house, tending her houseplants, that her neighbors knew her well. She made baskets and flower arrangements for friends and distributed items she collected from rummage sales.

On Saturday, a family four doors down from her home shared memories of Lewis-Hall’s fun-loving family and how she would do favors for people she barely knew.

“She knows everyone in this area,” said Berhan Dargie, 66. “If you’re new to this neighborhood, the first person to greet you is Jewel.”

Dargie’s son, 15-year-old Caleb Berhan, said Lewis-Hall gave him a bicycle and later spotted someone stealing it from the family’s porch. She got into her big white car, drove after him and retrieved the bike, Caleb said.

You didn’t have to worry when something was happening because she was always outside,” Dargie’s wife, Abebayehu Gerawork, 49, said. She cried and put her head in her hands when she learned of Lewis-Hall’s death.

The street was often filled with the laughter of Lewis-Hall’s grandchildren, who rode bikes outside in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood just north of the trendy H Street Corridor.

Among Lewis-Hall’s survivors are her husband, Everett, 62, her son Kito, 41, and her daughter LaKeisha, 38. There is also LaKeisha’s infant daughter, her grandmother’s namesake: Jewel.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...6288544af98_story.html?utm_term=.c494baa0602f
 
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...6288544af98_story.html?utm_term=.fefe3a14826b
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https://thehillishome.com/2017/10/r...bor-michael-jackson-fan/#.WdvQP6YrGJ8.twitter
 
I remember reading about her and her sweet tribute. I think it's so lovely that she kept it up. Very sad.
 
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