Jay Hewitt’s education, employment and other life pursuits all supported his goal of helping others, especially children.

Even when he enjoyed the benefits of his membership at the Boyers Sportsmen’s Association, he didn’t just sit around the lake fishing or practice his marksmanship at its shooting range.

Hewitt led a revitalization of the inactive organization in the 1980s, and served as its president for roughly three decades.

Nick Grove was named president of the Boyers Sportsmen’s Association, which is in Marion Township, after the unexpected death of Hewitt just over one year ago while elk hunting in Colorado.

Grove said for those and many other reasons, the association decided to erect a stone monument memorializing Hewitt at the association’s grounds on Boyers Road that reads “Jay Hewitt Memorial Lake.”

“When I say he was the cornerstone of this club, he was,” Grove said. “Not only that, he was so well-known in the community.”

An elk, fish, deer, rifle, fishing pole and turkey have been expertly engraved on the large rectangle of sandstone.

The stone memorial will be dedicated at a small, invitation-only ceremony on the afternoon of Saturday, Nov. 9.

Grove said Hewitt’s family will attend, as will his close friends and associates, a priest from St. Louis Roman Catholic Church in the St. Faustina Parish, and the owners of the companies that donated the materials and work for the stone monument.

He said association officials approached the Tiche family at Annandale Sandstone in Boyers about a large stone to be engraved for the memorial, and were shocked when the Tiches said the stone would be donated.

Then, Grove said the Robinson family, owners of Harrisville Memorials, donated all the engraving on the stone when they were approached by association officials.

The Robinsons, who were friends of Hewitt’s, also paid to have work for the monument’s base and concrete pad completed as well.

“The memorial grew into something bigger than we thought it would,” Grove said.

He attributed the two significant donations to Hewitt’s character and tireless support of the northern Butler County community. The association board was thrilled at the donations.

“As a sportsmen’s club, we wanted to make sure, with as much as he’s done over the years, that we did not let that go understated,” Grove said of Hewitt’s memorial. “We wanted him to be recognized at the highest level possible.”

Grove said association members came up with the idea of renaming the lake in honor of Hewitt.

“This is where Jay wanted everyone to be,” he said of the lake, which is stocked with trout each year by the state Fish and Boat Commission.

Grove said Hewitt was key in the association’s annual youth fishing tournament during trout season when children from the community are invited to the lake for a day to try their luck with a rod and reel.

He said the young anglers’ families also are invited, and the association provides food and other activities on tournament day.

“That was a big thing for Jay,” Grove said.

Renee Hewitt called the memorial a beautiful tribute to her late husband.

“He loved the sportsmen’s club and everything it stood for,” she said.

Her husband and a handful of other young men in the mid 1980s decided to resurrect the club, she said, which had gone inactive since its formation in 1949.

“He was always interested in conservation and nature, and I think he recognized that the lake played an important part in our local ecosystem, and a lot of different species depended upon it,” she said. “It’s also a great recreation opportunity for the people up here.”

She is deeply grateful the efforts of Grove and others at the club to have a memorial placed for her husband.

“I know it was important to a lot of club members to recognize him in some way, and I truly do appreciate it,” Hewitt said. “I don’t think Jay would have ever expected something like this.”

She said her husband’s focus in life was the betterment of youth, especially those at risk, which is why he worked at George Junior Republic and Butler County Youth Services for many years in “the kid business,” as he referred to his career choice.

Hewitt also served on the Moniteau School board and board of trustees at Butler County Community College; and he was a deputy waterways conservation officer with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission for 11 years.

One of Hewitt’s pursuits, which delighted outdoors enthusiasts throughout the county, was his regular column in the Butler Eagle.

Hewitt shared his stories of hunting and fishing with readers for as long as anyone at the Eagle can remember.

John Enrietto, who recently retired after 26 years as sports editor at the Eagle, said Hewitt was extremely dedicated to his outdoors column, which he wrote either weekly or twice per month for the better part of three decades.

“He wrote about all types of hunting, nature and how to preserve it, feeding neighborhood wildlife, and fishing on occasion,” Enrietto said. “He often wrote about his own hunting excursions and people who accompanied him on those trips.”

He said Hewitt also had a sense of humor, which peeked through the words in his column.

“A man Jay referred to as Beaver Boy, a regular hunting companion, became a fixture in his columns,” Enrietto said.

He said although his contact with Hewitt was via an occasional phone conversation, his passion for the great outdoors was obvious.

Enrietto, like everyone else who knew the late Jay Hewitt, is very pleased that the simple stone monument at the Boyers Sportsmen’s Association will honor him as generations of outdoors enthusiasts enjoy the grounds and the lake, as Hewitt did.