Diocesan News15 Dec 10

Address by Archdeacon Gary Hastings at the funeral of Revd. Canon John Percival ( Percy ) Lewis held in Holy Trinity Westport on 13th December 2010

Revd. Canon John Percival ( Percy ) Lewis, 9th December 2010. Incumbent of Omey ( Clifden ), and Provost of Tuam, 1973-1991.

Percy was originally from Bandon in Cork. He was ordained in 1947, and was initially curate of St Nicholas’ in Galway. At one stage Provost of Tuam, he was for many years Rector of Knappagh, and then latterly of Clifden. When he retired he came to live at Pheasant Hill, between here and Castlebar, and after some years came to live in the McBride Home here in town, where he was well cared for..

I am very safe in saying that Percy was a one off. He was very kind. A man of few words, but very intelligent, very astute, and having been brought up in a garage in Bandon, was very interested in engines and cars, and mending clocks, bicycles, or typewriters or anything else as well. A present from Percy was as likely to be an air or oil filter for your car as it was to be a packet of biscuits or a pair of tights or a magazine. He haunted Hasting’s Garage for many years here in town, until eventually for reasons of insurance and health and safety he had to be evicted. They said in Clifden, if you ever wanted to find Percy, you just had to abandon your car in the street with the bonnet up and he’d appear.

Percy had a highly developed sense of humour. When our Bishop was only new, he went to meet Percy. He asked him if he would like communion, and Percy said no, he didn’t take communion. Confused, the Bishop then offered to read the Bible with him. Percy lifted what he was reading, which was Car Today Magazine or some such,and said ‘no thank you, this is my Bible.’ Which completely confounded the Bishop. Having said that, though, he was very glad to see the same Bishop when he kindly came frequently to visit him thereafter. I was present at the last service he took here in Westport in 1995, one St Patrick’s day, just before I became Rector. Percy’s unique liturgical style was a revelation to me.  Percy's sermons were valuable and unique; a reflection of his intellect, and as one person said, prepared with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.

He was loved and so often cared for by the Mercy Sisters in Clifden and also by the Benedictine nuns in Kylemore. Ecumenically he had very good relations with his Catholic colleagues at a time when it was not so easy or fashionable as it might be nowadays. I know for a fact, that there are many people in this area and also round Clifden, who have reason to be thankful to Percy for his generosity and care. They and God know who they are. Percy was very well liked, well loved indeed. Percy gently faded in his old age, until the stroke in the last few months took a heavy toll on him. His sister Violet predeceased him by only a few weeks and our sympathies are with her daughter Geraldine, Percy’s niece, who so faithfully came regularly to see him and who was so important to Percy.

And now Percy has gone home. I hope there are places in heaven that smell of engine oil and have things in them to tinker with. Then we’ll know where to find him.

Amen