Lewis Emory Pugh

MARION, Va.

Lewis Emory Pugh, age 85 passed away Saturday, November 20, 2021 in Denver, Colo. 

Lewis was born on October 19, 1936 in Smyth County, Va. to Scott W. Pugh and Anna Virginia (Nelson) Pugh. He received a Master’s in Geology at the University of Tennessee and was a member of the Geologic Society of America, American Institute of Professional Geologists and West Texas Geological Society. Lewis served as a Committee Chairman for the West Texas Geological Society in 1968-69. He worked as an Oil and Minerals Geologist in various states in the US: New Mexico, California, Texas, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado and South Carolina. Lewis also consulted internationally in Canada, Mexico and Iran. In his early retirement, he enjoyed working for US Bank and was awarded Employee of the Year in 2001. Lewis grew up in Marion, Va., and served as Governor in the Model General Assembly in 1955 during his senior year at Marion High School. Lewis worked in his father’s automotive business in Marion before attending Roanoke College for 2 years. From there, Lewis transferred to Southern Methodist University (SMU) and graduated in 1960 with a BA in Mathematics and a BS in Geology. After graduation, Lewis worked for Tennessee Eastman Corporation for 2 years before joining the US Army and was assigned to the Army Map Service in Arlington Hall Station. In 1966, he earned his Master’s in Geology. His first job in Geology was at Shell Oil Company in Midland, Tx. as a Staff Geologist in Oil, and later, in Minerals, in Salt Lake City, Ut. His experience at Shell led to earning the position of Chief Geologist at the Questa Molybdenum Mine in Questa, N.M. Lewis had an enormous laugh, was a sentimental man and loved things of quality.  His personal interests were all related to Earth Sciences: rocks, minerals, land formations, geography, global mineral sources, volcanoes, earthquakes and meteorology.  Lewis enjoyed traveling to China, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Ecuador.  His love of photography meant that most of Lewis’ pictures from these trips were of land formations and rocks, not people.  Lewis was also highly mechanically inclined and could repair almost anything. He had a major stroke in September 1984 which accelerated his decline in his later years.  In 2021, Lewis was diagnosed with both advanced renal disease and prostate cancer. In October, he suffered a severe seizure which required resuscitation, and then in early November, he fell and broke his hip.  While recovering from the surgery to repair his hip, he contracted pneumonia.  His other conditions limited the medications that could be prescribed to fight the pneumonia, and as a result, Lewis succumbed within a few days, passing away on the morning of November 20, 2021. Lewis never forgot his boyhood in Virginia or the homemade jams that his mother would make.  Even in his old age when he couldn’t drive and life felt difficult, he would threaten to take the bus back to Virginia.

Lewis E. Pugh was preceded in death by parents Scott W. Pugh and Anna Virginia (Nelson) Pugh; and brother Roy L. Pugh all of Marion, Va.

He is survived by his daughter Janine V. Johnston of Santa Fe, N.M.; brother William H. Pugh (Ida) of Marion, Va.; granddaughters Isabel V. Somma and Magdalena L. Somma both of Santa Fe, N.M.; nephew Joel G. Pugh (Misty) and children Jack, Mason and Sydney all of Marion, Va.; niece, Julia K. Pugh of Va.; and his partner Louise Leal Bridges and her daughter Anne both of Colo.

Graveside services will be held Saturday, June 4, 2022 at 2 p.m. at Rose Lawn Cemetery, 4410 Lee Highway, Marion Va. 24354 with Blake Frazier officiating and Military Rites conducted by Francis Marion VFW Post #4667 and the U.S. Army Funeral Honors Guard.

To share memories of Lewis Emory Pugh, please visit www.seaverbrown.com. Care for Lewis’s family has been entrusted to Seaver-Brown Funeral Service & Crematory, 237 East Main Street, Marion, Va. 24354.