Jill Hewett Johnson
Established in 1981, The Arthur and Lola Hewett Memorial Scholarship perpetuates Arthur and Lola Hewett’s commitment to education and to JCC. The award is given to a data processing student studying at the college who is expected to show academic progress and financial need.
Arthur and Lola Hewett actively encouraged the Watertown community to build a college where people of all walks of life could be educated. Frequently, their daughter, Jill Hewett Johnson, would hear them remark, “What a wonderful town this would be if it had a college!” The Hewetts were instrumental in promoting the concept to friends and business associates. Once Jefferson Community College was built, one last problem remained: Enabling people who did not have the financial means to attend college to do so. Thus, the Hewetts oversaw the creation of the JCC Scholarship Fund. The Hewetts efforts in the founding of the college are marked during every commencement when the JCC mace, donated by the Hewetts, is displayed.
Dr. Arthur A. Hewett was born in Arlington, South Dakota, on January 19, 1907. After graduating from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota, he continued to study at Northwestern University’s School of Dentistry, Chicago, Illinois. Upon receiving his degree in 1929, he practiced dentistry in Vermillion from 1930 to 1941.
Answering the call to duty during World War II, he joined the Army’s First Armored Division on March 16, 1941. In April, he was assigned to Camp Drum (now Fort Drum), New York, with the Fourth Armored Division. He was transferred once again, to the 10th Armored Division, and moved to Ft. Benning, Georgia, as the division’s dental surgeon.
On September 18, 1944, he was sent overseas to participate in battle campaigns in Central Europe, the Ardennes, and the Rhineland. For this, he was awarded the bronze star and several battle stars. Upon completion of his military service, he achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel.
A year after the war was over, Dr. Hewett moved his family to Watertown. When he arrived in this community, he joined Dr. Edwin I. Harrington in opening the dental practice known as Drs. Harrington and Hewett.
Dr. Hewett was a member of the American Dental Association, Fifth District (New York State), having served as president of the district in 1956 and 1957. He was also a member of the Jefferson County Dental Association and functioned as president of the local organization in Watertown.
He was a chairman of the Jefferson Community College Scholarship Corp. and was one of its founding members. He was also one of the members of the Salvation Army Board of Directors and Trinity Church.
For 30 years, he served as the dentist of the Jefferson County Children’s Home, “a job in which he took great pride,” said his daughter. Mr. Hewett died June 28, 1975.
Lola C. Hewett was born in Chamberlain, South Dakota, on September 8, 1907. She was the daughter of Dr. John W. and Grace Tyler Clevenger.
According to Mrs. Johnson, her mother was a descendent of Harry Tyler, a famous North Country artist who created beautiful red and white or blue and white coverlets. His signature was never found on his art; his trademark instead became our symbol of freedom, the American eagle carrying the banner inscribed with “E. Pluribus Unum.”
After being educated in Chamberlain, South Dakota, Mrs. Hewett attended Rockfort College, Rockfort, Illinois, and the University of South Dakota, and in 1928 gained a degree in dental hygiene from Northwestern University’s Dental School. She later attended the New York State University College at Cortland.
Her career began as a dental hygienist for the Chicago Board of Education in Chicago, Illinois. Later, from 1930 to 1932, she worked for the South Dakota State Hospital in Yankton, South Dakota.
On Valentine’s Day of 1932, she married Dr. Arthur A. Hewett. When her family moved to Watertown, New York, in 1946, she worked as a substitute teacher and was a dental hygienist for the Watertown Board of Education for 17 years, retiring in 1973.
She was a charter member of the Philanthropic Education Organization, Chapter AI and a member of the College Women’s Club, the daughters of the American Revolution, the American Dental Hygienists’ Association, the Jefferson County Children’s Home and the auxiliary of the House of the Good Samaritan.
She was a communicant of Trinity Church and served as a member of the Altar Guild and the Needlepoint Guild.
Lola C. Hewett died February 13, 1975.
Dr. and Mrs. Hewett raised two children, John and Jill L. Hewett Johnson.
The Jefferson Community College Foundation is thankful to Jill Hewett Johnson for providing this scholarship.