Ralph B. Lewellen, 91, of Haney's Personal Care Home in Rices Landing, died at 4 p.m., Saturday, December 27, 1997, at Greene County Memorial Hospital, Waynesburg. Mr. Lewellen spent his early years in Nemacolin working many jobs such as carpenter, motion picture projectionist and mechanic for Nemacolin Mine. In 1929 he left Greene County for Covington, Ky., where he worked as a guard for the Pinkerton Detective Agency. In World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Savannah which escorted President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference in 1945. In Kentucky, Mr. Lewellen was a member of the Pleasant Grove Methodist Church in Covington and the Masonic Lodge in Independence, Ky. In 1981 he returned to Greene County. He is survived by one son, Kenneth E. Lewellen of Ryland Heights., Ky.; one grandson, Frank B. Lewellen of Boise, Ind.; one brother, Frank Lewellen of Charlotte, N.C.; one sister, Wilda Shaszar of Columbiana, Ohio; three nephews, Thomas Lewellen, Richard Pitcock and Allen Pitcock; and two nieces, Ruth Henderson and Clara Louise Pitcock. In addition to his wife, he was preceded in death by a son, Raymond Lee Lewellen, and a brother, Roy Lewellen. Copyright ©1997 Observer Publishing Co. Last updated Monday, December 29, 1997 Ralph B. Lewellen
Nemacolin man had spent 52 years in Covington, Ky.
He was born August 12, 1906, in California, a son of Raymond V. and Lillian Gere Lewellen. On March 22, 1926, he married Mary E. Pitcock Lewellen who died March 17, 1996.