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"Oh, good. Betty's here."

For decades, dating back before World War II, that was a familiar refrain in these parts.

Whether you were entering a classroom at Davis High in the 1940s or attending a UC Davis athletic event, people were always hoping that Betty Lewis would be there.

The wife of Dick Lewis, the late Aggie trainer who was storied in his own right, has left her Aggie family. She died Sept. 17.

After a joyous 93-year run, Betty Lewis has been reunited with the love of her life.

"She and Dick are together," Betty's daughter Laurie Lewis told me. "Mom had a great time. Until a couple of days before her death, she was happy and healthy."

Laurie always knew Mom would go with a smile.

It was an infectious smile, and Betty's total regard for those around her is what made having Betty as a friend so very special.

"We talked at least twice a week," says Marietta Hamilton, another Aggie sports matriarch who was Betty's friend for more than 50 years. "She and Dick were one of the first couples who invited us over for dinner when we arrived to Davis."

Marietta and her husband, the late UC Davis basketball coach Bob Hamilton — like the Lewises — were fixtures on the Aggie scene.

With Dick and Bob working at games in old Hickey Gym, Betty and Marietta were inseparable in the stands. Even after their husbands' deaths, Betty and Marietta continued their joint attendance for most Aggie basketball games at The Pavilion.

"Betty and I hit it off from the beginning," Marietta recalls. "Dick was such a doll. They were so — how should I put this? — so perfect for each other."

Marietta says Dick would bring her a Snickers candy bar before each game.

"After he passed away, she continued to bring the Snickers bar," Marietta continued. "My secret little candy bar.

"There are so many things. Betty was always, always the same: happy. Happy with her life, happy with what she was, happy with who she was.

"I never saw her ever act like she was distressed or disgruntled with anyone — ever."

Betty Finlay met Dick Lewis during World War II. He was in the U.S. Navy and, after seeing action, was later stationed at Moffett Field in Mountain View. His naval softball buddies would come to Davis to play those Army fellows who had taken over the college campus.

It was during a game that the pair first laid eyes on each other. At a subsequent dance, they met officially.

"He was a wonderful man," Betty said of Dick during an interview three years ago. "He was a friend and mentor to so many people. He cared about everybody."

Betty graduated from Davis High in 1944 and, eventually, the two married. The Lewises settled in town and Dick went from maintenance at the University Farm to the Athletic Department.

"He had played a lot of sports," Betty told me. "Aggie sports had no trainers then. He knew how to tape ankles ... keep people in shape."

Now the ad hoc trainer, Lewis' responsibilities included painting, driving the bus, keep an eye peeled for equipment bargains and, along with Betty's expertise in the kitchen, feeding a team or two.

"We would have whole teams come over for dinner," Betty recalled with a laugh. "Other times, Dick would help (administrators) with their aches and pains and you'd get to know everybody on campus. It was wonderful. They were like our kids."

One of those kids was Dan Hawkins, a fullback at UC Davis (1981-82).

"Dick, to me, was one of those guys that had the magic ability to just put his hands on you and you felt better," recalls Hawkins, now the Aggies' head football coach. "Everybody who thinks about Betty and Dick just remembers the warmth they brought into your life.

"Betty was always such a sweetheart. They were such a (loving) couple. I always thought they had this glow around them."

Phil Swimley, for almost 40 years the baseball coach at UC Davis, loved the Lewises: "I tell everyone, whenever I can, that no one on campus during my time there has ever had more positive influence on people than Betty and Dick Lewis," reports the former mentor whose wife Marilyn was also close to Betty.

"She was always loving. Always complimentary. Never complained," Marilyn says. "Every time you turned around, she had something positive to say about everybody.

"And Dick didn't just take care of his athletes. He took care of the town. People would say 'I'm going to go to Dick and have him fix my back.' "

If you knew Betty Lewis, the remembrances are identical ...

"She was a fabulous, fabulous friend," reminds Marietta Hamilton. "I loved her to death. We always signed off that way: 'Love you.'

"She was an angel when she was alive, and now she's an angel in heaven."

And didn't you just know it when Dick Lewis saw Betty entering those Pearly Gates ...

"Oh, good. Betty's here."


Editor's note: One of the most well-known and respected sports writers in the industry, former Davis Enterprise sports and managing editor Bruce Gallaudet joined the UC Davis Athletics staff as its feature writer in the summer of 2018. Since then, visitors to UCDavisAggies.com have enjoyed his unique perspective on campus student-athletes, coaches, teams, individuals, programs, events and projects that represent the fifth-ranked public school in the nation.