J.
J. William Ewing
J. William Ewing, 86, of Lynchburg, passed away Wednesday, January 27, 2010.
He was born January 24, 1924 to Chauncey Alexander Ewing and Marguerite McKie Ewing in Washington, Pennsylvania. During Bill\"™s childhood Chauncey was the principal at Trinity High School which set Bill off on a lifetime love of learning. During his adolescence Bill achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, and learned to play the clarinet in the Washington High School band. Bill\"™s first venture out of Pennsylvania was to accompany his scout troop to the 1937 New York World\"™s Fair. Bill took advantage of this escape from parental supervision to indulge in two fisted ice cream cone eating, a picture of which was captured in the news of the day.
World War II forced Bill to compress his senior year in high school in order to graduate before he reached 18, at which point he joined the US Navy. After technical training at the Great Lakes Naval base in Chicago he served as a radar and radio operator on merchant marine ships ferrying supplies from West Coast ports to Pearl Harbor.
Bill was mustered out of active duty after V-J Day. He returned to Washington, PA to study Chemistry and Physics at his father\"™s alma mater, Washington & Jefferson College.
At W&J he was active in Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and the college radio station. His favorite story from his college days was packing up the Spanish Club into his father\"™s Packard during the 1950 Spring Break and driving to Mexico. He never tired of telling his children that such an outing was big news back then. He remarked that the Washington Observer Reporter newspaper chronicled their journey. The press coverage may however have been related to the fact that soon after he would marry the reporter\"™s sister.
After college Bill began a career in the new field of nuclear energy. His first job was at the Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Tennessee. Those days Bill would drive to New York City on long weekends to see Broadway shows.
Bill married Doris Jean Rutherford on June 11, 1955. After a honeymoon in California, the couple moved to Chillicothe, Ohio where Bill worked for Goodyear Atomic and Doris taught Mathematics.
The Ewings moved to Lynchburg early in 1957 for Bill to help start-up the Babcock & Wilcox facility on Mount Athos. He specialized in Mass Spectrometry in an era when that meant building his own Mass Spectrometer from scratch. In the last years of his career, Bill focused on furthering the understanding of the effect of high energy neutron bombardment on the integrity of the structural steel within nuclear reactors. Fortuitously, he was doing an experiment within the ill-fated reactor at Three Mile Island at the time of its accident. After the high temperatures melted the thermocouples which usually inform operators of the status within reactors, Bill\"™s neutron flow monitors survived to guide the shutdown. Bill spent six weeks in the TMI control room after the incident, and retained his firm conviction in the safety of nuclear power.
Bill was a 53 year member of Rivermont Presbyterian Church where he served at various times as Deacon, Elder, member of the choir and bell ringer. In addition to membership in the Lynchburg Civitan Club, Bill also played the clarinet in the Fine Arts Center orchestra. An avid handyman, Bill was proud to lend a hand at Habitat for Humanity building projects. He developed a deep interest in history which he sated by reading, then sharing with others as a docent with the Lynchburg Museum System.
Bill is survived by his wife Doris and two children: Elizabeth Ellen Ewing and husband Skip Platt of Keswick, VA, and Thomas Chauncey Ewing and wife Deanna Kathleen Raih of Brentwood, Tennessee. There is one grandchild, Miranda Kathleen Ewing also of Brentwood. His two sisters likewise survive him: Ruth Marlin of Glenshaw, PA and Ann Seibel, of Washington, PA.
A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, April 24, 2010, at Rivermont Evangelical Presbyterian Church with Pastor John T. Mabray officiating.
The family requests that no flowers be sent; rather, those interested in making a memorial are encouraged to consider Washington & Jefferson College, 60 South Lincoln St., Washington, PA 15301 or Greater Lynchburg Habitat for Humanity, 360 Alleghany Avenue, Lynchburg, VA 24501.
Tharp Funeral Home & Crematory, Lynchburg, is assisting the family, 434-237-9424.
He was born January 24, 1924 to Chauncey Alexander Ewing and Marguerite McKie Ewing in Washington, Pennsylvania. During Bill\"™s childhood Chauncey was the principal at Trinity High School which set Bill off on a lifetime love of learning. During his adolescence Bill achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, and learned to play the clarinet in the Washington High School band. Bill\"™s first venture out of Pennsylvania was to accompany his scout troop to the 1937 New York World\"™s Fair. Bill took advantage of this escape from parental supervision to indulge in two fisted ice cream cone eating, a picture of which was captured in the news of the day.
World War II forced Bill to compress his senior year in high school in order to graduate before he reached 18, at which point he joined the US Navy. After technical training at the Great Lakes Naval base in Chicago he served as a radar and radio operator on merchant marine ships ferrying supplies from West Coast ports to Pearl Harbor.
Bill was mustered out of active duty after V-J Day. He returned to Washington, PA to study Chemistry and Physics at his father\"™s alma mater, Washington & Jefferson College.
At W&J he was active in Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and the college radio station. His favorite story from his college days was packing up the Spanish Club into his father\"™s Packard during the 1950 Spring Break and driving to Mexico. He never tired of telling his children that such an outing was big news back then. He remarked that the Washington Observer Reporter newspaper chronicled their journey. The press coverage may however have been related to the fact that soon after he would marry the reporter\"™s sister.
After college Bill began a career in the new field of nuclear energy. His first job was at the Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Tennessee. Those days Bill would drive to New York City on long weekends to see Broadway shows.
Bill married Doris Jean Rutherford on June 11, 1955. After a honeymoon in California, the couple moved to Chillicothe, Ohio where Bill worked for Goodyear Atomic and Doris taught Mathematics.
The Ewings moved to Lynchburg early in 1957 for Bill to help start-up the Babcock & Wilcox facility on Mount Athos. He specialized in Mass Spectrometry in an era when that meant building his own Mass Spectrometer from scratch. In the last years of his career, Bill focused on furthering the understanding of the effect of high energy neutron bombardment on the integrity of the structural steel within nuclear reactors. Fortuitously, he was doing an experiment within the ill-fated reactor at Three Mile Island at the time of its accident. After the high temperatures melted the thermocouples which usually inform operators of the status within reactors, Bill\"™s neutron flow monitors survived to guide the shutdown. Bill spent six weeks in the TMI control room after the incident, and retained his firm conviction in the safety of nuclear power.
Bill was a 53 year member of Rivermont Presbyterian Church where he served at various times as Deacon, Elder, member of the choir and bell ringer. In addition to membership in the Lynchburg Civitan Club, Bill also played the clarinet in the Fine Arts Center orchestra. An avid handyman, Bill was proud to lend a hand at Habitat for Humanity building projects. He developed a deep interest in history which he sated by reading, then sharing with others as a docent with the Lynchburg Museum System.
Bill is survived by his wife Doris and two children: Elizabeth Ellen Ewing and husband Skip Platt of Keswick, VA, and Thomas Chauncey Ewing and wife Deanna Kathleen Raih of Brentwood, Tennessee. There is one grandchild, Miranda Kathleen Ewing also of Brentwood. His two sisters likewise survive him: Ruth Marlin of Glenshaw, PA and Ann Seibel, of Washington, PA.
A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, April 24, 2010, at Rivermont Evangelical Presbyterian Church with Pastor John T. Mabray officiating.
The family requests that no flowers be sent; rather, those interested in making a memorial are encouraged to consider Washington & Jefferson College, 60 South Lincoln St., Washington, PA 15301 or Greater Lynchburg Habitat for Humanity, 360 Alleghany Avenue, Lynchburg, VA 24501.
Tharp Funeral Home & Crematory, Lynchburg, is assisting the family, 434-237-9424.
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