Family, community pay respects to Judge Ola Lewis at courthouse

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Area leaders and community members are paying their respects to a Brunswick County Superior Court judge who died on Sunday from liver cancer.

Her family says she will be dearly missed, but it’s comforting to know she is no longer hurting.

“In a way, I’m sort of relieved because of the pain and suffering she’s been through,” Judge Ola Lewis’ uncle Jason Parker said.

Judge Ola Lewis served the people of North Carolina for more than 20 years, getting her start as an assistant district attorney before being appointed District Court Judge in 1993.

Lewis served as Senior Resident Superior Court Judge for Brunswick County starting in 2003.

Judge Ola Lewis (Photo: WWAY News)

She was chosen to “lie in repose” in the rotunda of the Brunswick County Courthouse until 5 p.m. Friday.

Hundreds showed up to pay their respects to the judge.

“That’s the kind of person she was so I’m not really surprised,” Parker said. “But I am overwhelmed by the support, friendship and kindness the people of this neighborhood have shown us.”

One of those people is Kennedy Gilly.

Gilly interned under Lewis while he was in school. After graduation, he got a job working alongside her.

“You can judge the character of a man or a woman by seeing how they treat someone who can do nothing for him or her,” Brunswick County Magistrate Kennedy Gilly said. That’s very apt because she was nice to everybody.”

He described her not only as his mentor, but his friend.

“It’s crazy to see someone of such authority be, at the same time, so kind, so caring and genuine and down to earth,” he said.

Gilly says he speaks for the courthouse community and the people of Brunswick County when he says she was loved immensely and will be dearly missed.

He concluded with a simple message for Judge Lewis.

“I love you. I miss you,” Gilly said.

A memorial service will be held Saturday at the Odell Williamson Auditorium on the campus of Brunswick Community College, 150 College Road NE, in Bolivia.