Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-06-24
Mrs, Fayne Strahan Lewis,
Wife of MuIti-n1iIIionaire
British Miner Is Still Little
'Pet" 10 Aged Parent

A little vine-covered cottage at
the intersection of Williams and
West Alexander streets and a gen
there dreaming in the sunshine,
were the twin lures that drew beau-
tiful Mrs. Fayne Strahan Lewis,
wife of the diamond king of KIM
berry, three thousand miles across
the ocean to the city where sh
eighteen.
Pet" Strahan, they called her
then, and to the old lady, her moth
err, she is still Pet" For not all
the eighteen years that have passed.
since Mrs. Lewis was a girl in A.
lowed her when, singir" at the
Gaiety theater in London, she mai
ried the chief heir to the tremen-
dous Barnato-Lewis diamond inter-
ests in South Africa. not all the
Lewis millions or the Lewis pearls
which she wears in thick. white
rope around her neck can lie
old Atlanta lady whose chief hap
piness today is recalling the time
when her world-renoWned daughter
studied under the late Miss Emma
TuIler at Calhoun school.
The life of Mrs. Lewis reads like
Giction-a tale fit for the Sunday sup
plements-but what makes it chiefly
worth recounting now is this latest
chapter, this journey of a daughter
across the Atlantic to see the mother
denied her by four years Of war,
for it would seem to be the sweetest
chapter of them all.
Fayne Strahan Lewis was the
daughter Of the late Judge Strahan,
chief justice of the state of Oregon
in the days following the Civil war,
and of Sara Wilson Strahan, a Will
son of the Kentucky Wilson's.
Last Of Family
She" said her mother Thursday,
'is the last of the Strahans and
am the last of the Wilson's. My
other children are all dead and Pet
has no child. With us both families
will perish"
When Judge Strahan died Of apo
pleXY, Pet was only girl. His widow
health and bought property extern
sively here.
The Strahans lived at SO West
Alexander street. the same little
powered cattage where Mrs. Strahan
lives today, alone but for her maid.
L remember now ln6y uS6Q 10
come and sit on the porch, only
struggling young lawyers and bust
ness men then" said Mrs. Strahan.
mentioning several names that rank
among the first in the local Four
Hundred. "They used to sit in the
moonlight, and sing and play the
mandolin"
Married In London
Pet went first to Miss Ballard's
school and later to Calhoun. Miss
Echols was the principal then and
Miss Emma fuller, whose recent
death was such a bereavement to
hundreds of Atlantians, was her
favorite teacher. The beauty and
grace Of the girl not only won her
friends everywhere but resulted in
her dancing and singing in many
amateur productions. In the Kir-
mess and the Gilbert and Sullivan
operas which were the local rage
in those days, there was born in
Pet Strahan's dreams the lure Of
the stage which later was to play
such a prominent part in her life.
When she was twenty-five years
old she went to New York to study
voice, and year or so later. got a
small part in a production Of 1.-THE
Messenger Boy" then playing at
Gus Edwards Gaiety theater in Lon
don, the famous little playhouse
from which such famous actresses
IS Edna May, Fanny Ward, Madge
Leasing and Helen Lord, stepped,
like Pet Strahan. from the foo