There is no place like home, and those words come from a person who literally has seen the whole world but has chosen to return to his childhood home in Mississippi for his retirement.
David Lewis is a native of Jackson County and grew up on Beardslee Lake in Moss Point with his parents, one brother and a sister. He never ventured far from home until after graduation from Moss Point High School in 1979 when he attended Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Perkinston and then to Starkville where he graduated from Mississippi State in 1983 with a B.S. in general business administration.
He said he planned to work in banking and finance, but a trip to southern California after college graduation took his career in a different direction.
“The airline and travel bug bit me,” he said. And that was the beginning of a 33-year career with United Airlines. “I loved almost every moment of it. It’s a fascinating industry, and it came with some great travel benefits and perks.”
Throughout his career, he has filled the shoes of almost every position in the airline industry other than pilot. He started in Jackson, Mississippi as an agent, but he said employees were cross utilized.
“I did ticketing, gate management, ramp work loading and unloading baggage, dispatching and parking the aircraft, freight, cargo, mail, and more,” he said. “By April 1987, I was offered a position in Newark, Miami, or Chicago. I accepted a transfer to work at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and moved to Chicago. I was primarily assigned to the ticket counter where I learned a lot about international ticketing, fares, travel requirements, and checking people in for travel anywhere in the world.”
In May 1988, he accepted a position as a flight attendant where he flew on domestic flights until November 1994 when he moved into an entry level management role in United’s Chicago Headquarters.
“It was exciting to see much of the USA, but I eventually felt the desire to look for another position,” he said. His final responsibilities included catering, writing policy and procedures, safety and security, customer service manual writing and the merger process with Continental Airlines.
“I enjoyed my 33+ years but had an opportunity to retire early in December 2018,” Lewis said. “I left a role overseeing a group of technical writers for the flight attendant manual, which at this time was an app on an employee-issued iPhone.”
While in Chicago, he lived in several neighborhoods around the city between Lake Michigan and Wrigley Field and then on the northeast side of town.
“Chicago is made up of many neighborhoods and is relatively easy to get around by Public Transportation,” he said. “Once apps became the norm, it became much easier to know when to leave the warmth of your home to catch a bus or train, rather than walking to the stop and having to wait in a snowstorm.”
In 2003, he and his husband, Bill, bought a home in Northwest Indiana around Lake Michigan near New Buffalo. It was a weekend home until 2011 when they moved there full time.
“This became a weekend escape from the hustle and bustle of the city,” he said. “I continued to live in Chicago during the week and would commute into the city on Monday mornings and return Friday evenings.”
After retirement, the couple would spend the winter months in the mild south Mississippi climate and return to Indiana for the spring and summer months.
“We were snowbirds from the Midwest, but I enjoyed being back, catching up with childhood friends, and enjoying some of the warmer winter temps vs. the long, cold Midwest winters,” he said.
After losing his husband to cancer in June 2023, he was struggling with what to do and where to go and decided it was time to go home.
“I decided it was time to return home to be closer to family and be in the house on the water where I grew up,” he said. “I returned in November 2024 and have been extremely happy.”
Looking back, he realizes that life has always taken him near the water, and that is where he can relax. He enjoys gardening, boating and just about anything dealing with water.
“When I lived in Chicago, I lived across from or near Lake Michigan for a good bit,” he said. “At one point, I lived in a high-rise building with views over the park of Lake Michigan. Fall was wonderful with the trees changing colors. It is a beautiful, large lake, but I always enjoyed my visits back to Moss Point and looking out at the water.”
He said his parents Marvin “Sonny” Lewis and Jane Causey Lewis moved to Moss Point in 1951 when his dad took a position with the Jackson County Extension Service and his mother taught public school and then private piano lessons from their home.
“I took piano as a child and again as an adult,” he said. “It doesn’t come easy for me. I did not get the music gene.”
Back at home, he said he volunteers with the food pantry at St. Jonh’s Eiscopal Church and with other local organizations. He said this move to Moss Point, he hopes, to be his final stop, but he is looking forward to some projects on his last forever home.
“There’s something special about Moss Point, the surrounding waterways, the bayous, flickers of sunlight on the water, and those beautiful sunsets,” he said. “Even the sandbars and access to the islands make it a special place to live. We are fortunate!”
And while Moss Point is now home base, he said he still has a bucket list of cities to visit.
