Peter Dylan Ewing

Peter Dylan Ewing, 63, died gracefully on Saturday afternoon, March 28, surrounded by family and his Episcopal pastor. Peter had been hospitalized at Parkview, Pueblo for three weeks prior for treatment of lingering pneumonia and fungal lung infections. He had been transferred to an ICU unit the previous Wednesday when he had not recovered from a surgical procedure.

Family from coast-to-coast had known him as “Uncle Peter” no matter where they were on the family tree, and innumerable people knew him for the gentle and kind soul that he was; as one mourner in his home parish, St. Peter the Apostle, Pueblo repeatedly said on Palm Sunday, “He was a friend, he was a friend.” In the parish he was recognized as “gentle Brother Peter.”

Peter was born to the late Ann Margaret Wentz Ewing and Wayne Ewing in New Haven, Connecticut on January 5, 1963, the middle child between his brothers Christopher and Gregory. He spent his childhood in the Yale University environs, in Singapore, and in a long hospitalization in the former Children’s Asthma Research Institute and Hospital, Denver. He reunited with his family in Denver, where his parents marveled at his 10-year-old ability to play mental chess by telephone with a similarly gifted buddy.

He graduated from East High, Denver, and attended CU, Boulder, where after dabbling in more majors than even he could recall, he graduated as a Philosophy major and went on to earn an MPA at San Diego State University. Wanting to “be a bureaucrat who made a difference,” he became a Department of Defense civilian employee of the US Army.

After completing his training at Red River Army Depot in Texarkana, Texas, he was posted to Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville,

Alabama, then Aberdeen Proving Ground, in Aberdeen, Maryland, finishing his 30-year career at Fort Belvoir, Fairfax, Virginia. Peter had begun as a logistics staffer, but soon specialized in space communications, where he was part of a small team that placed, tracked, and repaired low orbiting satellites. He had volunteered for service in Iraq but was pulled out of the boarding line for medical risk at the very last moment. Peter always said that was the loneliest drive back home he had ever taken.

Outside of his Army responsibilities Peter had developed lifelong interests in nuclear energy, railroad development, and private entrepreneurial rocketry, participating as a ground tracker in launches in Alabama and Maryland. For the delight of it, he completed another Bachelor’s and another Master’s degree in STEM subject areas.

Upon his retirement in 2016, Peter moved to Westcliffe, Colorado, in order to be closer to family and to relish the clear air, quiet, and natural beauties, day and night. There, he was a revered volunteer with All Aboard Westcliffe, a respected, appointed member of the Round Mountain Water and Sanitation District Board of Directors, and an avid supporter of Mission:Wolf.

A highlight of this time was traveling to Okinawa with his father, and his soon-to-be step-mother, Shannon Proctor, and soon-to-be step-grandfather, Charles Proctor, for Wayne and Shannon’s wedding, hosted by Shannon’s daughter, Leah Chappabitty and her then US Army husband stationed there (the latter was in satellite communications, and he and Peter spoke indeed an esoteric language together).

Worsening pulmonary health and vision required Peter to move down the hill to Pueblo, where he became active at St. Peter the Apostle and a member of the parish’s Bishops Committee, also volunteering in its Rice and Beans food pantry and migrant ministry programs. As a longstanding member of the American Nuclear Society, he delivered a paper to three of the ANS sub-groups gathered in Huntsville, Alabama in May 2025. Peter had painstakingly catalogued all known nuclear energy research facilities and their data over 18 months of study, arraying them in a manner so that “the right hand would know what the left hand was doing.” His paper and power point were lauded as overdue, necessary information for the ANS. Like his father, Peter didn’t seem to grasp what “retirement” meant.

Throughout his life Peter was beleaguered by challenging pulmonary and vision conditions, to which he never caved until it became too much for him to any longer fight them off. Though so many mourn his passing, all recognize Peter’s final breath was drawn with some relief from his agonizing battles.

“Gentle Brother Peter,” is remembered as a precious presence in their lives by his father, Wayne and step-mother Shannon, of rural Custer County; his brothers Christopher, Black Forest, Colorado, and Gregory, San Antonio, Texas along with Gregory’s spouse, Sandra Rojas, MD, and teenage children Isabella and Matthew who are sorely missing their Uncle Peter. Peter’s niece, Elizabeth Ann Ewing, Pueblo, and her children Madelyne, Nathaniel, Jackson, Brooklyn Azalea, and Jacob had an extra playmate in Uncle Peter, and find his absence unfair and saddening. On his mother’s side of the family a number of uncles, aunts, cousins and their children mourn Peter’s passing. His stepfamily, to which he came late in his life, easily adopted Peter into the sprawling Proctor clan, as a new brother, nephew, cousin and came to know and respect Peter for his broad interests, commitments, good spirit and—let’s face it—absurdly inane puns and comedic flashes.

His last words to his father were, “I love you,” and his last texts to his brothers read “Thank you,” and “Go Broncos!”

A funeral service and celebration of life reception will be held at St. Peter the Apostle later in April, and the family will be notifying the Westcliffe folks who had been touched by his friendship.

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory and honor of Peter and his decent, compassionate, and giving life may be made to the Ann Margaret Wentz Ewing Memorial Scholarship at Wilson College (1015 Philadelphia Avenue, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania 17201).

Goodbye, Uncle Peter, dear Peter, sweet Peter; we remember you with tears and with gratitude for your presence amongst us.