Person

Lewry, Louis H. "Scoop"

1919-1992

Louis Harrington “Scoop” Lewry was born in Moose Jaw on April 16, 1919 to Phillip E. and Mary Louisa Lewry. He had three brothers and one sister. He attended King George School and Central Collegiate. He began a journalism career with local radio station CHAB in 1938. From 1946 to 1949 he was employed with the Regina Leader Post news bureau. He also wrote a weekly column in the weekly advertising paper the Western Spotlight and worked for the Moose Jaw Times-Herald. While working at CHAB a colleague also named Louis gave “Scoop” his alias to end confusion in the office.
Lewry was elected alderman of the city of Moose Jaw in 1948. From 1950 to 1956 he was mayor, the youngest in Canada (age 31) and the first native born mayor in Moose Jaw’s history. In 1956 he retired. In the 1957 federal election Lewry won the Moose Jaw Lake Centre seat for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and served one year. From 1958 to 1964 he was appointed to the Local Government Board, the overseer of municipal government finance. In 1964 he won the mayoral election. In 1967 he ran in the Saskatchewan provincial election as the CCF-NDP candidate in Morse Constituency losing to Liberal Premier W. Ross Thatcher. In 1968 Lewry won the mayor’s seat by acclamation. Two years later he was narrowly defeated by J. Ernest Pascoe. He then became an inspector with the Liquor Licensing Commission. In 1971 he returned to the Local Government Board and resigned in 1982 to run again (successfully) for mayor. He won again in 1985 and remained mayor until his retirement in October 1988.
On December 18, 1942 Louis H. Lewry married Jean Rosalthe Munro, a registered nurse. They had five children, Philip, Harold, Catherine, Janet and Mary. Jean passed away in 1986. In November 1987 he married Edith (Edie) Hill of Moose Jaw. They divorced in 1991.
Lewry was a member of and served on numerous committees and boards. He was a charter member of the Moose Jaw Kinsmen Club, a charter member and president of the Wild Animal Park Society, on the Celebrate Saskatchewan Committee, Canada Day Committee, Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Numismatic Association, the Canadian Wooden Money Society and director of The Moose Jaw Thing, a society to promote the name of Moose Jaw. He was president of the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association. He served as a public school trustee from 1966 to 1971 and was board chairman from 1969 to 1971. In 1980 Lewry was named to the Order of Canada. That same year he was awarded the City of Moose Jaw Medal of Merit.
While he was mayor, the Carbon Filtration Plant at Buffalo Pound Lake was completed, the Saskatchewan Water Corporation head office was built, and a major renovation and expansion of the police station and city hall was begun.
Lewry’s hobbies included coin collecting and woodworking.

He passed away in Moose Jaw on February 24, 1992 following many years of suffering with cancer.