One of the area’s last Second World War veterans has passed away.
Ron McEwen was just four days away from his 100th birthday when he died on Dec. 7.
McEwen was born in Petrolia and lived in the Wyoming area most of his life. After secondary school, he joined the Air Force in Dec. 1942 and was called up for duty just four months later. McEwen spent three years serving in Canada and England and his family, in his obituary, wrote his bomber pilot’s training and winds were his “college education.”
When he returned to Canada, he became a founding member of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 388 in Wyoming. He purchased the family farm and became active in the community. McEwen was a member of the local school board and championed the idea of central schools to improve primary education.
He was one of the early adapters of no-till farming. McEwen was named Conservation Farmer of the Year in Lambton in 1987 because he started Ridge Till farming.
McEwen always stayed active in the Legion. He was part of the committee which built the current Legion. He was also part of the group which built Royaleigh in Wyoming.
He lived there with his second wife for 20 years.
Recently, he’d lived in Sarnia at Landmark Retirement Village and more recently Vision Nursing Home, where he passed away at the age of 99.
Plympton-Wyoming Mayor Lonny Napper paid tribute to McEwen at a recent council meeting saying he had contributed greatly to the community. A moment of silence was also held.