Lucina (Tina) Johnson Lewis — a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, great-aunt, sister and consumer of life experience — died suddenly of natural causes on Sept. 29 at her home in Durham, N.C. She was 77.

Tina was predeceased by her husband Winslow Lewis Jr. in 2012. “Mom/Ma/Totally Mom/Eedie” loved to brag about giving birth to 19 feet of men, and she is survived by those three sons: Whitman Thompson and his wife Shannon, Winslow Lewis 3rd and his wife Andrea, and Crandell Parker Lewis and his wife Allison. “Granny” is also survived by grandsons Spencer Philip Thompson, Ramsey Roy Thompson, Tuckerman Winslow Lewis and Hart Frederick Lewis.

In addition, she leaves behind her siblings, George F.B. Johnson 3rd, Leigh Johnson Yarbrough, Isabelle Johnson Mender, Jaqueline Johnson Pile and Rosamond J. Strong, and hundreds of nieces, nephews, cousins and other lifelong friends who mourn her loss but celebrate her life.

She was born to George F.B. Johnson Jr. and Audrey Strong Johnson on Jan. 25, 1946. She grew up in Greenwich, Conn. and graduated from the Rosemary Hall school. She spent her early summers with family at her grandmother Lucy Park’s home in West Chop and later at her parents’ home in Edgartown.

Her enrollment at Endicott College was interrupted when her striking beauty took her to New York City to launch a successful career in modeling and acting. That career was brief, as she soon decided her heart was leading her toward marriage and motherhood. 

Tina loved to open and share her homes with friends, family, first-time guests and other out of town visitors. Under her roof, dinners and parties reverberated with stories and laughter. Weekend mornings were commonly set to a bluegrass soundtrack with a breeze blowing through open windows. Along with Durham, her homes over the years included New York City; Sausalito, Calif.; Atlanta, Ga.; Princeton, N.J.; Falmouth; Boulder, Colo.; and Newport, R.I.

She was an enthusiastic collector of American folk art and the walls of her homes were a tapestry of storytelling, personal history and a life well-lived.

Life inside Tina’s homes was to experience her at her loving, supportive and stubborn best. She ran a tight ship, punctuated with “Tina-isms” that echo to this day.

The consummate sports mom, she earned her stripes on rainy soccer and lacrosse fields, dusty baseball diamonds, tree-lined rivers and cold hockey rinks. Wins were celebrated, losses were shared and minor injuries were greeted with calls to “shake it off!” and get back out there.

As a reluctant chef who made prodigious use of her prized chest freezer, meals were often served to her skeptical children with a side dish of “This is not a restaurant.” But above all else, she seeded an appetite into her children for expanding horizons by exposing them to unique experiences, pushing them out of their comfort zones and reminding them to seize their opportunities with a refrain of, “When the bus is there, you’ve gotta get on.”

Tina had a wicked sense of humor, punctuated with a high-pitched giggle that filled any room she was in. Nearly every holiday provided an opportunity to let people know she was thinking about them in the form of small packages with themed napkins, tea towels and other handpicked goodies. It will be those days when memories of her will be freshest and her loss will be felt the most.

A memorial service will be held next autumn on the Vineyard. where friends and family will say goodbye and she will be reunited with Winslow, the love of her life.

In Tina’s memory, her family asks you to please put a few dollars into the instrument case of the next busker you encounter bringing light to the world through music.