Born to John Howard Ewalt and Vera Eileen Ewalt nee McJunkin April 24, 1951 in Great Bend, Kansas. Survived by his wife Caroline Sutter, Father, brothers Max and Pat and sister Candy Sikkink.

John was raised in Great Bend, KS and Arvada, CO until graduating from Arvada High School in 1969. He joined the U.S. Navy that year and learned his first life lesson: “Always read what you sign.” At enlistment, as he was signing papers, he signed an agreement to extend his enlistment by two years to be part of the Navy Nuclear Program. As the paper was disappearing into the recruiter hands, he wanted it back but was told by the recruiter it was too late. This agreement was to set him on a life course.

Following his six year enlistment of which there was 6 months of fun, he ended up at Hanford working at many job and facilities. His first job was at the Fast Flux Test Facility FTFF in many roles including establishing a successful program for the reduction of human error. After leaving FFTF, John was involved in many Hanford site-wide investigations and assessments. His next job was at the Plutonium Uranium Extraction plant PUREX as Operations Improvement and coach for multidisciplinary field work teams. After the shutdown of PUREX, his next job was to support Plutonium Finishing Plant PFP as lead for a reengineering effort to create multidisciplinary field work team. Eventually, he became team lead for Plutonium Process Support Laboratories .

John met the love of his life, Caroline Sutter on April 2, 1997. They hit off immediately. They were married September 19, 1998. They traveled together extensively including many cruises including one through the Panama Canal. They also enjoyed quiet evenings sitting on their deck enjoying the view with their cats and watching Caroline’s roses grow.

John retired in 2007. He took over the household duties. He became an expert at laundry, shopping and taking care of his lovely wife. He also repaired things around the house some of which like Caroline’s steam iron did not turn out too well although most did turn out well.

John was an avid woodworker and made many small and large projects for their hmoe. He got a mini-metal lathe and mill which allowed him to make many small things both for fun and to repair things around the house. He claimed it paid for themselves in first few projects. Caroline was never sure about his math on that subject.

John became a volunteer mediator for Benton-Franklin Dispute Resolution Center now known as the Dispute Resolution Center of the Tri-Cities in 2003 helping people resolve their conflicts in a mutually acceptable manner without having to spend time and money to resolve their conflict in court. The primary work involved helping divorced couples develop their parenting plans and property division. There were many other types of conflicts like conflicts between neighbors, contractor and consumer, work place and within groups. He supported the other activities of the DRC including training and many special projects including the Community Conversations sponsored by the Tri-City Herald.

Please give tax deductible donations to the Dispute Resolution Center of the Tri-Cities, 5219 W Clearwater Ave, Suite 11, Kennewick, WA 99336, telephone: 509 783-3325 to help support this organization’s continuing ability to provide conflict resolution services to all income levels and types of disputes.