Shaw Lewis, a teacher at Ross Montessori School in Carbondale, was killed in a crash on Interstate 70 on Aug. 16.



Typically a wait of an hour-plus at Domino’s Pizza doesn’t sit well with customers, but on Monday night, valley residents were happy to do it in order to support a local family.

“We only had one caller complain,” said Rifle Domino’s general manager Matt Richardson.

Monday night’s fundraiser at Rifle Domino’s, wherein all the proceeds were donated to the family of Shaw Lewis, saw the restaurant put up record numbers, according to Richardson.

Lewis was killed Aug. 16 in a crash on Interstate 70 while he was stopped by a Colorado State trooper. Trooper Charles Hiller suffered minor injuries after another driver struck Lewis’ car. The driver of the vehicle, who suffered a seizure and sped to more than 100 mph, was arrested on charges including manslaughter, second-degree assault and felony forgery for lying on his license application about his epilepsy.

“We got calls from all over the state,” Richardson explained. “One lady from Denver bought 12 pizzas: four for each local fire department and four for the local police department. It was not just the Rifle community, but all the valley communities came together for this.”

In total the restaurant earned $5,555 in sales, plus another $2,000 in donations, for a total of $7,555 for the Lewis family.

“It was more than triple what we would make on a typical Monday,” he added. “It was hard to move around at the restaurant because the store was so crowded.”

While the fundraiser was a success, its purpose was not forgotten as Domino’s supported a friend and former employee.

Lewis had come on in the spring as the restaurant’s closing driver. Everybody just knew him as the lovable “beard guy,” Richardson said. “Everybody just loved him.”

Lewis, 39, who grew up in Basalt, taught at Ross Montessori school in Carbondale, where his two children are students. He lived in Rifle with his wife, Amanda, and worked part-time at Domino’s.

A GoFundMe campaign has been created on Lewis’ behalf, with donations used to set up a college fund for his two children. In 26 days, the fund raised $13,155 of the $20,000 goal. The campaign can be found at gf.me/u/byfk74.

A celebration of life will be held from 1-4 p.m. today at Ross Montessori in Carbondale. Rifle Domino’s will donate 10 pizzas for the event. Anybody in the community is welcome to attend.