Mary Eunice Lewis was an Associate Professor of Modern Languages, specializing in Germanic languages, and was employed at OSC from 1928 to 1951. She was born in 1887 in Georgetown, Illinois. She received her Bachelor of Science in 1906 from Pacific College, her Bachelor of Arts in 1907 from Penn College, and an Master of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley. She was head of the German Department at Pacific College from 1910-1937, until she left to spend a year of travel in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Holland. She returned to the United States too late to secure university employment, so she taught at Silverton High School, in Silverton, Oregon, for a year, until she was brought onto the OSC staff. After teaching here for eight years, Professor Lewis took a sabbatical leave to undertake graduate study at the University of Washington, with a teaching fellowship in German. This enabled her to attain her doctorate. In 1937, she was involved in a brief legal dispute. Years before, in 1932, a colleague by the name of Professor Bach became ill, and Professor Lewis took over the bulk of his classes. Later, Professor Lewis sought compensation for the extra work she undertook, and initiated a legal suit, although they ended up settling out of court. In 1950, with a peak salary of $4,600, she reached compulsory retirement age, but continued teaching half-time throughout the next year. Upon her retirement, she received Emeritus status.
