Below is a speech written and presented by Lewis Center Board President Karen Richards at the April 2010 dedication and relocation of the center to its current site at 2730 E. State Blvd., Fort Wayne, IN

"Good afternoon and thank you for joining us to celebrate the opening of the new Child Advocacy Center and its rededication in memory of Dr. Bill Lewis. Several months ago we moved into this location, which was graciously donated by Parkview Hospital. This space allows us to expand our services and better serve the children of our community. For those of you who are not familiar with our facility, Child Advocacy Center serves as a neutral child friendly place to conduct forensic interviews of children who are suspected to be victims of child sexual abuse.

I would like to tell you a little bit about Dr. Bill Lewis and why we are renaming the Center in his honor. Dr. Bill Lewis came to Fort Wayne in the 1970s and was director of this community's first newborn intensive care unit at Parkview Hospital. The number of premature babies whose lives he has saved and enriched number in the thousands. You will see pictures on the walls inside our new Center, showing Dr. Lewis and his yearly reunion with all of the children whose lives he directly impacted. Shortly after he came to Fort Wayne he also began his lifelong dedication to helping medical, social service, and law enforcement personnel advocate for and protect the rights of children who were being abused and neglected.

Bill Lewis was the most selfless individual I have ever met. Nothing was ever about him; it was always about the children. Bill served on numerous committees and boards of directors. He took it upon himself to become a medical expert in the area of abuse and neglect, all on his own time and using his own money. He helped me and countless other deputy prosecutors as an expert witness in criminal cases, and was always available to assist us in reviewing cases to determine if wrongdoing had occurred. Bill did this all on his own time and never once sent us a bill or asked to be compensated for his services.

Dr. Lewis was a founding member of the Child Advocacy Center and served on its board of directors. I asked him several years ago if we could name the Center after him and after many long talks with him, he continued to refuse. He always wanted the Center to be about the children and the work we were doing, not about him, and he always preferred to be anonymous. After Bill died last June 9th, I asked his brother, Dr. David Lewis, about rededicating the Center in Bill's name, and he sent this response: ' was nice to meet you and thanks for the nice article that you wrote about Bill. He was a hero. But he didn't want to toot his own horn. It was never his style. Having said that, he mentioned to me a few months ago that someone had mentioned naming a child center of some type after him. He told me that he didn't want the program to use his name because he liked to do things anonymously. However, he wrestled with it because he felt his name might draw in more support because people knew him. He told me, " 'I just don't feel comfortable doing it. Maybe if I were dead.' "

Sadly, he is dead, but I think using his name now would not violate his will. Going ahead, using his name now would allow him to keep on helping the kids he wanted to help."

After getting this response, our board of directors unanimously voted to rename the Child Advocacy Center in Dr. Bill Lewis' honor. At this time, I would like the board of directors and the staff to step forward. It is a great honor for me to unveil and dedicate the Child Advocacy Center to a man who dedicated his entire life to helping children. I hope that his memory serves as an inspiration to all of us to continue his dedication to volunteerism and to helping our community's children. With that, I now rededicate and rename the Child Advocacy Center, the Dr. Bill Lewis Center for Children."