Dr. Hewes’ chief hobby was his job, but family was a close second. He and Mrs. Hewes, an author of novels for children, raised a family of five. He was also an enthusiastic tennis player and a butterfly collector. He was skilled enough in lepidopterology to have articles on the subject published in National Geographic magazine.
Dr. Hewes was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the California Academy of Sciences, the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, the Cosmos Club of Washington, D.C., and the Sigma Xi honorary fraternity.
Just prior to his death on March 2, 1950, he received the Gold Medal Award of the U.S. Department of Commerce for exceptional service. A year later, the Western Association of State Highway Officials formally approved the establishment of the “Dr. L. I. Hewes Award,” to be given annually to a highway engineer from WASHO in recognition of an outstanding contribution to highway development.
“This award,” reads the resolution, “will perpetrate the name and achievements of Laurence Ilsley Hewes . . . whose superlative contributions in every phase of highway engineering gave great impetus to Western highway development.”
