A Life of Grit, Grace, and Giving

Welcome! We are so glad you’re here.

Lew grew up in the foster care system, never being formally adopted. He struggled many years to even have the basics that most of us take for granted every day. Often going to bed hungry as a child, he would talk about sneaking out to the kitchen to make ketchup sandwiches during the night, just to survive. Hand me down clothes and worn shoes were even hard to come by.

Working his way through his studies alone, nights spent reading til the early hours of the morning and then rising before dawn to do farm chores, he learned the power of persistance, grit, and determination.

Graduating from Crestwood High School in 1968, he went on to serve in the United States Army and survived the atrocities of the Vietnam War. He carried those scars for his entire life but, he also learned about teamwork, faith in God, and the power of a brotherhood. He went on to use the G.I. bill to attend college in 1970, graduating four years later with his Bachelors degree.

All those years of struggle finally began to pay off. He purchased his own home and raised two girls, making sure we never knew the struggles he faced as a child. Holding down 3 jobs at times to support his family, he quietly broke the cycle of poverty, hunger and abuse in a single generation. He lived to help others, always remembering the pain of his own journey, not wanting others to experience that if he could help it.

He was never one for being the center of attention or sitting still for long and he often found ways to anonymously leave meals, funds, Christmas presents, books, athletic equipment, and clothing for countless struggling families, waitresses who shared their hardships over meals, friends of ours that he didn’t know and of course, his fellow veterans.

Always easy to talk to, he would often share lessons about how hard work and never giving up can get a person through almost anything, he was living proof. He struggled his entire life with feeling worthy and he wanted to make sure others knew their worth.

Our mission is that your remembrance gift will be used to help Crestwood students who are in the foster care system, facing poverty, hunger, or a lack of funds for basic needs. Your gift will be stewarded by The Portage Foundation, making sure the profits go directly to struggling students. Self respect and dignity were extremely important to him and we will make sure that your funds are distributed in that same fashion. Dad was big on reminding us that we were ‘greatly loved’ and he made sure to let others know the same.

We hope that when you think of him, you will smile over a happy memory or laugh out loud recalling one of his famous jokes. If he were still here, he would encourage us all to approach life with grit, determination, perseverance, faith and discipline, never forgetting gratitude for our many blessings. He would definitely remind everyone that we are all here for a reason and that giving up is not an option.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your kind generosity as we give back, in his memory, to the community he called home.

Most sincerely,

The Myers and Korinko families