Date of death: 5/16/2024
Saint Meinrad Class: C 1982
Jim Dewes was born in 1958 in Indianapolis and was the third of six children to Edward and Cynthia Dewes. He met his future wife, Rita Davey, in early 1984, and they were married in December of that year. They chose to stay in Indianapolis because of their shared value of being close to family and local community.
He graduated from Latin School and Saint Meinrad Seminary with a philosophy degree. While in college, Jim, an Eagle Scout, became a troop leader to a group of handicapped men, some of whom he stayed in contact with for life. Following his more official Boy Scouts career as a Johnson County District Executive for the Crossroads of America Council, Jim worked as a fundraiser for Franklin College, Butler University, the Ruth Lilly Foundation, and Noble School (non-profit serving people with disabilities), but in 1995, he pursued his entrepreneurial dreams.
He joined the movement to restore the Fountain Square historic district in downtown Indianapolis, where he bought, restored, and sold fine, old homes. He loved spending time with immediate and extended family and made it a priority to get together with them. He and Rita started the tradition of taking their children, their children’s friends, and eventually their grandchildren camping at the Indiana Dunes State Park every summer for up to 2 weeks at a time. It was there that he modeled his love of tree identification, long hikes, and love of nature in general.
After becoming a grandfather 17 years ago, he became especially invested in the lives of his five grandchildren. As they grew older, one of the roles Jim took on in their lives was that of Boy Scout promoter, transporter, and cheerleader in their lives. Both he and Rita grew up reading the scouting magazine, Boys Life. They especially enjoyed the monthly cartoon, Scouts in Action, that portrayed real scouts and the ways that they had been able to save people from harm through the calm and competent use of the skills that the Scouts had instilled in them.
Jim had his own experience of this one cold, dark evening during December of 2022, when Jim was driving Rita and his oldest grandchildren to a Boy Scouts event. After driving through an intersection where they noticed a lot of broken glass, his grandson said that he thought that he had seen a car in a retention pond. After a U-turn, they all saw a the top half of a man standing on his submerged car as it was sinking, and 2 men near their cars on cell phones. Jim immediately got out and went to the pond’s edge. When Jim asked, the man stated that he could not swim and he was terrified to attempt to make it to land, perhaps only 20 feet away.
So, at 64, in 40 degree weather, Jim threw off his coat, hat, and glasses and waded into the water while firmly directing the gentleman to carefully follow his instructions and urging him to take a step and grab on. The rescued man afterward kept insisting, “Thank you for saving my life!” They later found out he had been broadsided and consequently pushed into the pond in a hit and run accident. Jim attributed his quick, decisive rescue action to his Boy Scouts training, and the motto, Be Prepared. Jim passed away on May 16th after a brief but serious illness of end stage heart failure.
Jim will be remembered and missed for his independent spirit, his love of family, nature, and history, and his avid interest in the restoration of classic cars and historic homes, as well as his enthusiasm to share his keen interests with all those around him. Jim was preceded in death by his parents and brothers Peter David (Sandee Schlosser) Dewes, and Andrew Paul Dewes. Jim is survived by his wife and three children: Rachel (Daniel) Thomas of Indianapolis, Joseph Dewes of Indianapolis, and Elizabeth (Tyler) Castle of South Bend, Indiana, as well as his siblings William (Dianne) Dewes, Katherine (Johannes) Dewes-Stark, John (Susan) Dewes, sisters-in-law Sandee Schlosser, and Janice Dewes, his five grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.