Tulsa Family Remembers 91-Year-Old Hit And Run Victim

By Jeffrey Smith, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- The family of a 91-year-old World War II veteran killed in a hit and run accident last weekend is begging witnesses to come forward.

Olin Lewis was buried with full military honors in Collinsville on Wednesday.

His family, including granddaughter Nancy Fair, remembers his life.

Nancy Fair is pouring over dozens of old photographs and handwritten letters from her 91-year-old grandfather, Olin Lewis. There's a picture of him with a bird dog, because he loved hunting

Some of the material is 80-years-old.

"This, to me, is a part of him," Fair said.

Olin died over the weekend while he was out riding his motorcycle. The 91-year-old Olin Lewis rode his motorcycle at least once a week.

He slowed down for traffic on Highway 169, when a small white foreign pickup truck hit him from behind.

Police say the truck was speeding and didn't stop.

3/6/2010 Related Story: Tulsa Police Look For Pickup Truck In Fatal Weekend Hit and Run Crash

"He would have wanted to go doing what he loved, but knowing that the person who did this, didn't even stop to render help? That bothers me. Because there's no closure, and there won't be any closure until we know what happened and why," said granddaughter Nancy Fair.

Nancy says was a proud Oklahoman his entire life. She has his diploma from Pawhuska High School, which he earned a few months after the Hoover Dam opened up. He was a dairy farmer for more than 40 years, and he married his high school sweetheart Peggy.

Olin Lewis served in the Navy during World War II and wrote his wife love letters from overseas.

To the sweetest little wife in the world," he wrote, and that's how he always thought of her

Nancy says it's a life worth celebrating.

"Just because we get older, does not mean we have to stop living," said Nancy Fair.

But to give her family peace, she says witnesses, need to come forward.

Because Olin's family saved his discharge papers, he was buried with military honors and had a 21-gun salute. He's survived by three children, nine grandchildren, and six great grandchildren.

Anyone with information on the crime or the truck is asked to Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS. Police believe the pickup was an older model (80s or 90s), small white foreign pickup.