Jewel Agnes Lamica

Jewel Agnes Lamica passed away peacefully on August 20, 2025, of natural causes. She was 101 years old, having experienced an extraordinary century of life. She lived through everything from the Great Depression to the rise of AI - adventurous and vibrant virtually every day she was alive.

Jewel was born in Tampa, FL, the daughter of Philip and Ruth McWilliams. The family lived for several years in Texas, where Jewel completed Ball High School; she then returned to Tampa. She spent her freshman year of college at the University of Tampa and then transferred to the University of Miami. A thriving student, Jewel served as president of the sophomore class and joined a chapter of the Delta Leta sorority.

1944 was a watershed year for Jewel: At a sorority party for University of Miami army-aviation cadets, she met the young man who would one day become her husband, Stan Lamica - a B-17 navigator who was soon sent to the English theatre of WW II.

At about the same time, Jewel paused college to become one of the first stewardesses hired by Pan American Airways. Assigned to the Latin American Division, she enjoyed many exciting journeys to the Caribbean and Central and South America - and "retired" for only one reason: to marry Stan, who had returned from England.

Jewel and Stan would spend 58 years of love and adventure before Stan's passing in 2004. Early on, they had four children - two girls and two boys. And Stan graduated from RPI in Troy, NY, as an electrical engineer.

Following graduation, Stan had joined the National Guard, and as luck would have it, his unit was activated for yet another war, this time on the Korean peninsula; Jewel had become an Army wife. She embraced that life fully - wife, mother, homemaker. It was a happy, active time when she also did much volunteer work. Everything from Sunday School teacher to den mother to hospital aide.

Later, Jewel, well into her 50's, was still determined to earn her college degree, which her stewardess adventure had interrupted. She and Stan lived in Virginia then, so she enrolled in the Community College of Northern Virginia, and George Mason University. After courses at UNC Charlotte, she eventually went on to earn her B.S. in Business Administration back at George Mason University.

Jewel was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church. After she and Stan moved to Roswell, GA, a suburb of Atlanta, she eventually joined Roswell Presbyterian Church.

She is survived by two daughters - Karen Lamica of Indio, CA, and Diane Lamica of Corvallis, OR; two sons and a daughter-in-law - John and Bessie Lamica of Cumming, GA, and David Lamica of Corvallis, OR; granddaughter Lindsay Chirico of East Stroudsburg, PA; grandson James Lamica of Cumming, GA; and great-grandson Elias Pakala Lamica of Winder, GA.

Memorial services will be held at Roswell Presbyterian Church on (date) at (time). In lieu of flowers, please contribute to the church Children's Fund.