Robert C. Ewing

Robert Clark Ewing, age 99, passed away July 22, 2019. Known as Bob to his many friends and as Poppi to his grandchildren and great grandchildren, he lived a notable life as father, businessman, engineer, and church leader that spanned the geographic reach from the Willamette Valley in Oregon to Memphis, TN; then to Jackson, MS and finally to Brentwood, TN. He was born January 24, 1920 in Salem, OR. Raised on a fruit farm, he entered college in 1938. While an engineering student at Oregon State in 1941 after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Bob tried to enlist in the US Armed Forces but was rejected due to his nearsightedness. He was directed to complete his engineering degree and help the war effort in this capacity. He graduated in 1943 and went to work for Boeing in Seattle, helping to design the B-29 bomber. In 1945 he was sent to Memphis, TN as liaison between Boeing and several plants in the South and Midwest. He lived in the Hotel Peabody and would fly the Chicago and Southern Airline from Memphis to visit these plants. Once while arranging this travel, he asked the Chicago and Southern ticket agent, who had caught his eye, out for a date in the hotel lobby. She accepted on the condition that their first date would be to attend the Union Avenue Church of Christ. This was beginning of what became the marriage of 60 years to Bob’s life-long partner, Christine Wells of Merigold, MS. After the couple wed in late 1945, they moved back to the Pacific Northwest where Bob completed his work with Boeing and went on to use his engineering skills with firms who built much-needed domestic infrastructure after the war, such as roads, bridges, hospitals and flood walls. In 1951, they moved to Memphis, TN where the demand for such construction was strong. They later moved again in 1958 to Jackson, MS. While working on construction efforts in the Jackson area, Bob noticed how volatile and destructive the native Yazoo Clay soils were to buildings and homes – the clay would shrink and expand wreaking havoc to the foundation. In 1968, Bob declared war on the Yazoo Clay by establishing the Ewing Foundation Company. It was the first foundation repair company in MS owned by a licensed civil engineer. The Ewing Foundation became the “go to“ brand in Mississippi for residential and commercial buildings requiring foundation solutions until it was sold in 1995. From 1995 until a head injury in 2010, Bob was a much sought after foundations expert by other engineers, contractors, and attorneys. During this consulting period, Bob became a Fellow in the American Society of Civil Engineers. In 2002, he consulted on the restoration of the historic home of Eudora Welty in Jackson, MS, the Pulitzer Prize winning short story author. Bob also published a professional paper about his work on the Welty home in the American Society of Civil Engineering in 2010 at the age of 90. In addition to his professional career, Bob was active within his church affiliations his entire adult life, including the Union Avenue Church of Christ in Memphis, TN; the Meadowbrook Church of Christ in Jackson, MS where he served as deacon and elder; and with the Otter Creek Church of Christ in Brentwood, TN. Bob was also active in his support of the MS Council on Epilepsy where he served a term as its President. Bob was preceded in death by his father, Fred; his mother, Hazel; his sister, Margaret; his wife, Christine; and his brother-in-law, John Glass. His survivors are his daughter, Janet of Brentwood TN; his son and daughter-in-law, Fred and Vanessa Ewing of Brentwood, TN; his granddaughter and grandson-in-law, Kimberly and Jon Owen of Franklin, TN and their twin great granddaughters, Sofia and Bea; his grandson and granddaughter-in-law, Michael and Beth Ewing of Brentwood, TN and their two great grandchildren, Landon and Emma; and, his niece, Nancy Glass of Salem, OR.

Visitation for Bob Ewing will be Wednesday, July 24, 2019 from four until seven o'clock and from nine until ten thirty in the morning on Thursday July 25 at the Otter Creek Church of Christ at 409 Franklin Road in Brentwood. A Celebration of his Life will begin at eleven o'clock Thursday July 25, 2019 following the visitation.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be contributed to the Robert Clark Ewing Engineering Scholarship in the Raymond B. Jones School of Engineering of Lipscomb University, the Middle Tennessee Epilepsy Foundation, or The Otter Creek Church of Christ. The family wishes to thank the care givers and the professional staff of the Somerfield Health Care Center and Willowbrook Hospice for their loving care of Bob as he transitioned to a new life.