Michael Jay Lewis

A memorial service for Michael Jay Lewis, 71, West Plains, Missouri, will be held at 2:00 p.m., Monday, January 22, 2024, at His Place House of Worship.    

Mr. Lewis passed away at 6:14 p.m., Sunday, December 31, 2023, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri.  

He was born November 8, 1952, at Houston, Texas, to Jay Norman Lewis and Elizabeth Nora Visher Lewis.  On October 21, 1976, he was married at Yuma, Arizona, to Anita Ortiz.  Mr. Lewis was a loving father, grandfather and great-grandfather; he loved being a dad.  Michael was a hard worker, a good father and a great supporter and teacher.  He had a good sense of humor and enjoyed making people laugh.  The light of his life was his family, especially his wife, Anita.  Michael enjoyed going to the races, building race cars, watching the Dallas Cowboys and building model cars.  He was a long time resident of West Plains.  Mr. Lewis was a member of the Church of Christ and was baptized in 1989.

He is survived by his wife, Anita Lewis, of the family home; two children, Michael Jay Lewis, Jr. and Natasha Lewis and husband, Adam Vandyke, all of West Plains; he was a father figure to Robert Jamison; thirteen grandchildren, including a special granddaughter, Tyonna Nichols; fourteen great-grandchildren; two brothers, Steven Ray Lewis, York, Pennsylvania and Alan Clay Lewis, Bristol, Tennessee; three sisters, Paula Kay Cornett, Melinda Faye Chambers and Lisa Gay Ramey and husband, Richard, all of Johnson City, Tennessee; his mother-in-law,  Yvonne Reynolds, West Plains; and several nieces and nephews. 

His parents, one son, Jay Aubrey Lewis, one grandson, Kyle Wayne Jamison and his father-in-law, William Ortiz, preceded him in death.  

Memorial contributions may be made to Wounded Warrior Project and may be left at or mailed to Robertson-Drago Funeral Home, 211 West Main, West Plains, MO  65775.