Van Lewis Memorial Service, Tallahassee, Florida

Van Lewis Memorial, Tallahassee, FL, July 20, 2011 (l to r) Randy November, J. Steven Svoboda, Mary Alda Balthrop [Van's widow], David Wilson, George Hill.

An Episcopal memorial service was held for William Van Brunt Lewis (Van Lewis) at St. John's Episcopal Church on Monday afternoon, June 20, 2011.

St. John's Episcopal Church, which was constructed in 1888, is a large, beautifully-appointed brick church in downtown Tallahassee, Florida. It is flanked by live oak trees festooned with spanish moss.

The Lewis family is a prominent family in Tallahassee and they have many friends. The sanctuary was absolutely packed for this service.

The service included the Eucharist or Communion. J. Steven Svoboda of Attorneys for the Rights of the Child delivered a splendid eulogy.

A reception was held in the parish hall after the memorial service.

J. Steven Svoboda, David Wilson of Cocoa Beach, Florida, Randall Delaware, and I were the intactivists present at the memorial service.

Van's human remains had been cremated. His family had chosen to inter his ashes the previous day, Father's Day, June 19, 2011, at St. Teresa Beach, an unincorporated community on U. S. Highway 98 in Franklin County about 30 miles south of Tallahassee, where Van had a home and where he was a clam farmer and which he loved.

Van worked very hard on getting the Florida legislature to remove Medicaid funding from circumcision. He was successful. By his work, he must have saved many thousands of Florida boys from circumcision.

Florida is one of few states east of the Mississippi where only a minority of boys are circumcised.