Lewis H. Borchert

August 15, 1933 - February 17, 2018

Lewis Borchert, 84, of Norwalk died February 17, 2018 at Kavanagh House in Des Moines, Iowa. Lew’s wishes were to be cremated, and visitation will be held from 4:00 P.M. until 7:00 P.M. on Sunday, February 25, 2018 at the Winfield Funeral Home in Knoxville, Iowa. A memorial services will be held on February 26, 2018 at 11:00 A.M. at Winfield Funeral Home. Burial of the cremains will be held on a later date. Lew was born in Chariton on August 15, 1933, to Ralph Homer and Doris Fern (Querry) Borchert. He graduated in 1950, and moved to Indianola where he operated several service stations until such time that he could buy his own station. He owned and operated Borchert’s Gas and Towing for several years, ran two wreckers, and did much work for the County and State. He married Joann Jacobs in 1952 and had two daughters from this union, Connie Lou and Diane. They later divorced. Lew’s passion was flying. After surviving a plane crash in 1965, he went on to earn his pilot’s license. He owned both a Cardinal and a Cessna, with which he did both charter and pleasure flights. His most memorable charter flight was when he met Evel Knievel. After he retired from flying, Lew enjoyed going to flight breakfast and looking at all the planes. Lew and Mason Ouderkirk enjoyed flying to Vegas, as Mason owned a couple of homes there. His next big passion was old cars. His first car was a ’39 Chevy. Whenever he traveled, if there was an auto museum or car show, they would stop in for a visit. After several years in private business, he sold his service station and worked as a courier for LCM Laboratories and later Mercy Clinical Labs. LCM is where he met Tomma Lou Bailey, whom he married in 1991 and they remain married to this day. After retirement Lew kept busy working at Jr’s Phillips 66 station in Grimes. He also liked to drink Black Velvet with his buddy George Van Vark. Those two guys together were a hoot. Lew and Tomma Lou also enjoyed traveling together. Florida and Texas were frequent destinations. They loved taking grandsons Austin and Bailey to Cedar Point Amusement Park in Ohio, which they have done for the last seven summers. Beloved travel stories include the trip to Branson with brother-in-law, Tom, and his son, Tab, where Tab got Lew to ride a roller coaster. He never forget that because even though he was a pilot, he was afraid of heights. Father-in-law, Tom Bailey Sr., enjoyed looking up old school and Navy buddies, and one year he talked about going to Florida to visit one. He didn’t have to convince Lew and Tomma Lou to go along on this trip. Tom and Tab also joined, and they also got to meet up with a cousin. This trip was most memorable because one morning, after having slept soundly through the night, Lew and Tomma Lou woke up to Tom Sr. saying he was “ready to go back to Iowa”, as a tornado had gone through during the night and destroyed much of the Orlando area. Lew was preceded in death by his parents, infant brother, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and one stepson. He is survived by wife of nearly 28 years, Tomma Lou; sister Marilyn Edwards of Des Moines; daughters Connie Lou of Fort Madison, and Diane (Rex) Gorham of Allen, TX; stepsons Jody (Cristal) Agan, and Davey (Kate) Agan; seven grandchildren, seven great grandchildren, and many cousins, friends, and relatives. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Hospice of Central Iowa, Greenwood Cemetery (Knoxville), or to the VFW Building Fund John Meyers Post 3519.