Nancy Lewis, a former director of the city’s parks department, an author and tireless community leader and volunteer, died Saturday at a hospital in Denver. She was 79.
Lewis, who had battled chronic lung disease in recent years, devoted her life to preserving and improving Colorado Springs’ municipal parks. She started working for the Parks and Recreation Department in 1966 as a $1.29-per-hour part-time recreation worker, rising through the ranks to become head of the department in 1987.
She retired in 1994 but remained active in the community, serving as board chairwoman of the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce and Colorado Springs Convention and Visitors Center. From its opening in 1995, Lewis served as the volunteer CEO of the Garden of the Gods Visitor & Nature Center and board president of the Garden of the Gods Foundation.
Nancy Lewis
“For 40 years, Nancy has lived, worked and volunteered in Colorado Springs and it is a better place because of her efforts,” Cindy Fowler, a previous winner of the Athena Award, said of Lewis when she won the award in 2011 in recognition of her contributions to the city and its residents.
In 1997, the city named a neighborhood park on Templeton Gap Road at North Logan Avenue in her honor. Her book, “The Parks of Colorado Springs — Building a Community, Preserving a Legacy,” co-written with Deborah Odell, came out in 2011. It charts the history of the city’s parks from the creation of Acacia Park when the city was platted in 1871 to the modern-day debate over the importance and future of the parks, many of which were donated by Colorado Springs’ founder, Gen. William Jackson Palmer.
“I want to preserve — and I want to see the city preserve for future generations — the things that are important,” she said when the book was published.
Longtime city parks director Nancy Lewis at the visitor center at Garden of the Gods in November 2006.
As director of parks, Lewis helped salvage the department’s reputation after the previous director was sacked for mismanaging Ski Broadmoor and overspending the budget. Lewis considered her greatest accomplishment as parks chief was creating the Colorado Springs Senior Center on North Hancock Avenue.
She was the first to receive the Lifetime Spirit of the Springs Award from Mayor John Suthers.
“The Colorado Springs Parks system would simply not be what it is today without the extraordinary efforts of Nancy Lewis,” Suthers said in a statement Saturday. “The benefits of her hard work and contributions will be enjoyed by the residents of Colorado Springs for generations to come.”
Lewis was born Dec. 28, 1938, in Blair, Neb., to Edith Hazel and Kenneth William George.
She moved to Colorado Springs in 1958, when her husband took a job at the Air Force Academy.
She is survived by two daughters, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Swan-Law Funeral Home is handling arrangements. Services are pending.
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