Wanda Lewis, a longtime Hillsboro resident remembered for more than three decades of entertaining and educating children with her husband Al on Channel 9’s “The Uncle Al Show,” passed away Monday at the age of 94, according to her family.
She had been a resident at Bell Gardens Assisted Living Community in Hillsboro.
Al Lewis preceded her in death, dying of natural causes at the age of 84 on Feb. 28, 2009.
WCPO-TV reported that Wanda and her husband “Uncle Al” Lewis had retired to their home in Hillsboro in 1985. While at WCPO from 1949 to 1989, Wanda Lewis spent 35 years working with her husband on the unforgettable program that entertained and featured thousands of children in the Cincinnati area.
In his book “Images of America: Cincinnati Television,” author Jim Friedman said that it was fellow Cincinnati TV colleague Paul Dixon who gave Lewis the idea for the Capt. Windy character.
He said Dixon nicknamed the normally shy and quiet Lewis “the Windy one,” and that when he moved to WLWT, she created Capt. Windy, and through the magic of television, would fly into the studio and join her husband on “The Uncle Al Show,” which in later years was renamed “Uncle Al Town,” until it went off the air on May 28, 1985 after nearly 14,000 episodes.
WCPO-TV reported that Wanda’s daughter, Diane, stated that her mother had enjoyed a “wonderful life of retirement in Hillsboro” and passed away peacefully Monday.
Wanda Lewis also made appearances on the “Paul Dixon Show” and the “Movie Matinee Show.” In 2004, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences inducted Wanda and Al into its “Silver Circle” Hall of Fame for their work.
In addition to raising four daughters, Diane said the couple had 13 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Due to the pandemic, she said funeral services would be private.
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