Two years later he won a silver medal in the mile relay (4×440 yards) at the British Empire Games (later the Commonwealth Games). In the 440 yards competition he was eliminated in the semi-finals. Narrowly missing the cut for Canada's 1936 Olympic team, he ran for two more years before retiring after a bout of pain from shin splints (shin splints had caused Lewis problems in the latter portion of his running career). He received greater recognition later in his life, including the Order of Canada in 2001. In 2002, Canadian author John Cooper wrote his biography, "Rapid Ray: The Story of Ray Lewis". The children's book chronicled his youth in Hamilton, as well as his training for the Olympics. A Hamilton school named in his honour, Ray Lewis Elementary, opened in 2005 and was occasionally visited by his widow Vivienne.