Shakespeare said, “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself a fool.” Ewald was no fool, even if he often joked about being one. I don’t believe he ever saw himself as the wise, trusted man he really was. Because he didn’t have much of a formal education, he learned most of what he knew from life’s hard knocks.

When I met him, he had long since retired from his job – but he had never retired from work. Mostly as an older volunteer, he single-handedly ran the youth sports program for many years in his small community, among many other duties. Whenever anyone needed help or information about a variety of subjects, he was always consulted.

Ewald was a modest man with an “aw shucks” attitude about his own abilities. He wasn’t one to boast and rarely inserted himself into anyone else’s business, but when asked he was able to draw upon his great wealth of knowledge built from years of experience, hard work, and probably a few mistakes along the way.

Even though I was a young man at the time I knew him and Ewald was long past retirement age, he still was a kind of mentor for me. Whenever I needed help or a clearer understanding of other people’s motives, I could count on him to fill me in. His understanding of human motivation was uncanny.

I remember the time when the agency for which I worked needed an audience with the manager of another local company in order to conduct negotiations for a much needed business contract. My agency consulted with Ewald as to the best way to get an appointment with this busy executive and how to best negotiate the contract with him. Of course he suggested using our small-town contacts to gain entry and homespun logic to negotiate the contract, all of which worked out wonderfully for both sides.

Another time I needed his help to gain access to a practice field for the softball team I coached. Since I was the new coach in town and didn’t garner much seniority when such things where considered by the ball field managers, my team was left with very little time to prepare for the season and too few games to play. But with Ewald’s intervention, I was able to acquire the additional, much needed, practice time and a few more games for my team. It was a small favor, but as a young, impressionable coach, it taught me the value of consulting and listening to more experienced people.

For all his self-deprecating humor, he was a wise and respected man. He helped many young people in his life-time with this low-key, experience filled approach to life. Fortunately, there are more people today who learned to deal with life this way because of Ewald.

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