Jewel Lewis-Hall, who was killed Saturday, is shown in 2010. She was known for her tributes to Michael Jackson. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)
On the porch of Jewel Lewis-Hall’s Northeast Washington rowhouse Sunday afternoon, where family and friends gathered to mourn the 62-year-old grandmother, a framed portrait paid tribute to her favorite icon: the late King of Pop.
Lewis-Hall was known in the neighborhood for her cooking and generosity. But mostly she was known for her never-fading devotion to Michael Jackson.
Day after day, from Jackson’s death on June 25, 2009, to her own sudden death Saturday morning, Lewis-Hall decorated her front porch — north of the bustling H Street corridor — with a rotating display of Jackson memorabilia: photos, album covers, hats, posters, even a beaded glove. Sometimes, she would blast her favorite song, 1971’s “Got To Be There,” from a boombox on the patio. Other times, she would set up a television and play the pop star’s videos as passersby stopped to watch. And every year, to mark the anniversary of Jackson’s death, she would invite the whole neighborhood over to pay tribute to Jackson with a feast of burgers, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and ice cream.
“All she wanted was for people to come past the house and celebrate his life with her,” said her daughter, Maxcine Lewis, 35.
“My mother’s from Lynchburg, Virginia, so she could cook a whole pig if you let her,” another daughter, Alicia Lewis, 39, recalled Sunday, fondly listing her mother’s staple dishes of ribs, fried chicken and barbecued pigs’ feet.
Jewel Lewis-Hall was killed Oct. 7 when she was struck by a vehicle at H and 10th streets NE. (Family photo)
[Northeast D.C. mom and daughter remain huge Michael Jackson fans]
Lewis-Hall, a mother of four and grandmother to a dozen, worked nights as a custodian at Senate office buildings and days serving food at D.C. public schools. Saturday morning, about 11:10 a.m., three blocks from her home, police said she was fatally struck by a gray Honda Odyssey as she crossed H Street NE at 10th Street. Police said the vehicle had been turning left from 10th Street onto H, and Lewis-Hall ended up trapped under the vehicle.
No charges have been filed, and authorities say the circumstances of the crash remain under investigation.
In an instant, a family lost a matriarch, a neighborhood lost a guardian and the world lost a living tribute to the late King of Pop.
Jewel and Maxcine were the subject of a 2010 Washington Post article, “Northeast D.C. mom and daughter remain huge Michael Jackson fans.” Lewis-Hall recounted in the story how a shrine of 10 Jackson pictures grew to 25. At one point, a shade hung from the porch reading:
Michael Jackson
King of Entertainment
Jewel Lewis-Hall carries out a frame with two photos of Michael Jackson in it to add to her memorial to the singer outside her Washington, D.C., home on Sept. 25, 2011. (Matt McClain)
We’ll Never Say Good bye!
Love Always
Now, her children were preparing to incorporate the “Beat It” singer’s work into their mother’s funeral services.
“It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t,” Alicia said.
Lewis-Hall’s sister said their Jackson fanhood began decades ago.
“We grew up with Michael,” Georgia Duncan, 66, of Southeast Washington said Sunday. “I’ll play it when I get home, because there’ll be memories of her.”
The shrine on the porch began with a single photo placed there the day Jackson died, Lewis-Hall had told The Post. She said she just kept adding to it.
Lewis-Hall downsized the memorial over the years, but still kept it going. On Saturday, there were two photographs of Jackson next to a “Love you” sign.
Friends said Lewis-Hall was so often outside on her porch or in front of the house, tending her houseplants, that her neighbors knew her well. She made baskets and flower arrangements for friends and distributed items she collected from rummage sales.
On Saturday, a family four doors down from her home shared memories of Lewis-Hall’s fun-loving family and how she would do favors for people she barely knew.
“She knows everyone in this area,” said Berhan Dargie, 66. “If you’re new to this neighborhood, the first person to greet you is Jewel.”
Dargie’s son, 15-year-old Caleb Berhan, said Lewis-Hall gave him a bicycle and later spotted someone stealing it from the family’s porch. She got into her big white car, drove after him and retrieved the bike, Caleb said.
“You didn’t have to worry when something was happening because she was always outside,” Dargie’s wife, Abebayehu Gerawork, 49, said. She cried and put her head in her hands when she learned of Lewis-Hall’s death.
The street was often filled with the laughter of Lewis-Hall’s grandchildren, who rode bikes outside in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood just north of the trendy H Street Corridor.
Among Lewis-Hall’s survivors are her husband, Everett, 62, her son Kito, 41, and her daughter LaKeisha, 38. There is also LaKeisha’s infant daughter, her grandmother’s namesake: Jewel.
Jenna Portnoy and Peter Hermann contributed to this report.