Master Jeweler Lewis Harris passed away on Saturday , November 16th. The longtime owner of Hayes Jewelers on Washington Street with his wife Arlene were a fixture on Washington Street and an important part of Walterboro and its history. Mr. Harris was born on October 28,1939 in High Point NC and was a graduate of Walterboro High School in 1957. Lewis and Arlene married on February 14, 1971 and spent 53 wonderful years together. In June 1971, Lewis and Arlene packed up a U-haul and moved back to Lewis’s hometown, Walterboro, South Carolina where Lewis joined his parents, Abe and Ruth in the family business Hayes Jewelers. In 1972 Lewis became a Registered Jeweler with the American Gem Society and continued his certification for the next 52 years. Lewis operated the family business which had been open for 83 years until July 2024 when he retired due to his health. The Press and Standard did an article on the store in July of this years, below is a reprint of that article.
Eighty-Three years in business and impressive run for any business but for the Harris family this has been their livelihood, their passion, and even their livingroom for visiting with friends. Saturday July 27th was the final day for Hayes Jewelers. The business, an anchor in downtown, closed its doors for the final time.
We sat down with Beth Harris Veyber, Lewis Harris’s daughter to speak about the store its, history and its customers.
Hayes Jewelers, opened for business in 1941 in the Old Novitt’s Ice Cream Parlor. It was a small building with limited space. In 1961 the business moved the current location tripling its space, adding gifts in addition to jewelry and watches. Six years ago, the building was downsized to its current size, when Mr. Harris decided to center on the jewelry business. Mr. Harris was a jeweler by trade and his grandfather was self-taught.
The store has always been a family business Beth explains, “I used to come out on Friday afternoon and I would wash the windows. I started helping when I could reach the counters, and I would work summers polishing silver. At the beginning of summer, I would start at one end of the store and not stop polishing silver until I hit the other end. It used to take me the whole summer vacation. I worked in the store through college and even after college. It’s always been a family business.”
Beth adds, “There’s always been family in here until about seven weeks ago. My mom just couldn’t leave. It’s always been my mom my dad.”
Beth said that every customer was treated equally with appreciation and respect. They based this on their Jewish heritage the phrase “Tikkun Olam” translated “repairing the world”, was the basis own how the business was operated. Her grandfather Abe Harris said, “to leave things better than you found them in the world.”
The store may be closed and the window displays empty, but the impact that was made on this town will live on. From the little spoons that the Harris’s would give the high school graduates, the rings on the fingers of many brides, and most of all the friends they made as a fixture downtown for 83 years. They truly did make a difference and left things better than they found them.
The L’vayah was conducted from the graveside at Live Oak Cemetery Tuesday morning, November 19, 2024.