Ailsa Posey Lewis (Mrs. Walter Thomas) is the daughter of Samuel S. Posey, a civil engineer, and Mary Johnson Posey, a newspaper feature writer. Mrs. Lewis was born and educated in Austin, Texas. Her grandfather, Brigadier Adam Rankin Johnson, CSA, founded the city of Marble Falls, Texas.
Mrs. Lewis studied voice in Austin, Fort Worth, and Houston, and coached in New York City. She was a soloist in “A Night of Opera” for five years, an annual event presented at Hogg Auditorium at the University of Texas. She was soloist at many churches in Texas, including St. David’s Episcopal, Austin; St. Andrew’s, Ft. Worth; St. James, Houston; St. Luke’s, Dallas; and First Methodist, Austin. She was a semi- finalist in the Metropolitan Auditions in Austin and worked in the Austin Little Theater with Zachary Scott and Alan Ludden. She also performed in the Austin Civic Theater, the Wednesday Morning Choral Club, and the Austin Civic Opera Company.
From 1965-1967 she served as President of the Dallas Federation of Music Clubs and during that time became Chairman of the Regional Auditions of the San Francisco in which capacity she served seven years. Auditions were held in Caruth Auditorium at Southern Methodist University where she worked closely with Matthew Farrugio, and Kurt Herbert Adler of the San Francisco Opera Company and James Schwabacher of the San Francisco Merola Program as well as the Auditions Judges—Thomas Hayward, Diseri Ligit, Paul Vellucci, Eugene Lewis, John Ardoin, Eugene Conley, John Coldiron, and Christine Palmer.
She is past president of Beta Sigma Phi Chapters and Beta Sigma Phi Councils in Austin and Ft. Worth and was a semi-finalist in the Beta Sigma Phi Valentine Girl chosen by Cary Grant. In Houston she was a member of the Tuesday Musical Club and sang in the Houston Chorale. In Dallas she directed the choir at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension from 1973-1984.
She is past president of Altrusa International of Dallas, having served two terms, one in 1978-1979, and another term, in 2001-2002. She is past president of the Daughters of 1812 in Houston and Dallas, Daughters of the Texas Republic, and Fifth District Texas Federation of Music Clubs, and State Music Chairman DAR.
For a number of years, Mrs. Lewis presented musical reviews of operettas, operas, and books for Dallas audiences, and she has stories published in the Beta Sigma Phi and Altrusa International magazines. In the mid-80’s, she was chairman, an actor, and director of St. Luke’s Acts which presented plays and melodramas to the public.
She and her husband formed Alewco, Inc. in 1966, a mail order company that sold biological supplies and an advertising company called AMA which she served after her husband’s death in 1975. She continued to run Alewco and AMA with the same expertise she exhibited as a musician until her retirement in 2002.
Several years ago when Mrs. Lewis first met her neighbor, Ann Petty, who had the vision and goal to establish an opera company, Ailsa was instrumental in providing direction to Ms. Petty’s goals to make the establishment of the Metroplex Opera Company a reality in 2003.
Ailsa Lewis is motivated to serve and support the Metroplex Opera with the experiences she gained, specifically with the San Francisco Opera Auditions and St. Luke’s Acts. She feels that she can provide invaluable insight in choosing the singers who wish to audition for the Metroplex Opera Company.