Royce Rutledge Lewellen (September 25, 1930 – September 2, 2020) was a

California Superior Court Superior courts in California are the State court (United States), state trial courts with general jurisdiction to hear and decide any civil or criminal action which is not specially designated to be heard in some other court or before a governm ...

Judge in

Santa Barbara County Santa Barbara County, officially the County of Santa Barbara (), is a county located in Southern California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa M ...

and namesake of the Royce R. Lewellen Justice Center in Santa Maria, CA. He was also co-owner of Lucas & Lewellen Vineyards in Santa Barbara County.

Early years

Judge Lewellen was born in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, MO in 1930 and spent most of his youth in

Jefferson City Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Missouri. It had a population of 43,228 at the 2020 United States census, ranking as the List of cities in Missouri, 16th most popu ...

, MO. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

in Columbia and after two years service in the U.S. Air Force attended the Boalt School of Law at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

in Berkeley, graduating in 1957.

Legal career

Judge Lewellen practiced civil law in Solvang, CA and served as the Solvang Justice Court Judge from 1969 to 1975. He was then appointed to the Superior Court in Santa Maria where he served until 1990. The courthouse complex in Santa Maria was named in his honor in 1992.

Lucas & Lewellen Vineyards

In 1996 Judge Lewellen partnered with Louis Lucas, a local pioneer grape grower to form Lucas & Lewellen Vineyards. The company owns three

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

s in Santa Barbara County producing 24 grape

varietal A varietal wine is a wine made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000.winepros.com.au. ...

s and operates a

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...

in Buellton, CA and two tasting rooms in Solvang, CA.

Community and personal life

Judge Lewellen was involved in many community organizations, most notably as Founding Director of both the PCPA Foundation and Solvang Festival Theatre. He also was a Founding Director of The Community Bank of Santa Maria and was a long-time Director of Contract Freighters, Inc. He had three sons, Mark, Michael and David with his former wife Judy Guder. He was married to Ann Foxworthy Lewellen from 2004 until his death.

References

*Contreras, S (2009) "Santa Maria Valley Timeline", "Santa Maria Times

*Jervis, L (2007) "The Birth of World Class Wines", "Santa Maria Times

External links

Biography of Royce Lewellen on Lucas & Lewellen website.

Compilation of Articles on Lucas & Lewellen website

Community Bank of Santa Maria
Santa Maria TimesNoozhawk
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewellen, Royce R. 1930 births 2020 deaths UC Berkeley School of Law alumni American people in the wine industry People from St. Louis People from Santa Maria, California Superior court judges in the United States University of Missouri alumni