Born in Chester, Wisconsin on September 4, l884, Joseph Donald Lewis moved to Spokane in 1909. After working for a year as an electrician on the construction of the Old National Bank, Lewis started working for Washington Water Power Company. Lewis worked at Little Falls his first year at Washington Water Power and at Long Lake from 1911 to 1915. After working in Lind, Okanogan and the Palouse area, Lewis became district manager in Pullman in 1928. In 1936 he was promoted to Division Manger. Lewis retired from Washington Water Power in 1953 to accept a two-year appointment in Greece with Ebasco Services, Inc. Lewis was one of four district managers in charge of installing a new power plant.
Lewis was involved in many activities in retirement upon his return from Greece such as the Whitman County Red Cross, Kiwanis, Toastmasters and Washington State Council for Youth and Children. Much of his spare time however, was spent on Nicotine Unlimited, an anti-smoking organization which Lewis founded in 1947. Lewis corresponded regularly with the members of the organization and sent out occasional bulletins. As a functioning, active organization, Nicotine Unlimited appears to have depended entirely on Lewis' efforts. It was quiescent while he was in Greece and seems to have halted operations entirely during his lingering illness the last years of his life. Lewis died on June 11, 1969, survived by his wife, Alice, and a daughter, Mrs. Duane Bailey.
From the guide to the Joseph Donald Lewis Papers, 1900-1968, (Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections)
