Board

Board Chair

Wallace K. Ewing ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Wallace K. 'Wally' Ewing considers himself a lifelong resident of the Grand Haven area, although his schooling and career has taken him to many other places around the world.

Wally's pre-college education was in schools in Grand Haven and Chicago. He attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison and received his bachelor and master degrees from Michigan State University in 1962 and 1964. He completed his doctoral studies in English at the University of Illinois in Champaign in 1971. He has taught at Michigan State University, Iowa State University and the University of Illinois. He was a Fulbright Lecturer in Tehran, Iran; he worked for the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, West Africa; and he supervised English teachers in Puerto Rican public schools. Wally was Dean of the College at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire. It was upon completion of his work there that he returned to his hometown for good.

Upon retirement from the Red Cross in 1995, Wally worked as Curator of Education at the Tri-Cities Historical Museum for two years and subsequently became a volunteer for the Museum. In recognition of his work, the Museum twice named Wally 'Historian of the Year'.

In August, 2006, Wally married Betty Jane Pickel Livingston, and, after a two-week honeymoon in England, the newly-married couple flew to Dalian, China, where Wally taught English writing and literature to Juniors at Dongbei University of Finance and Economics.

Wally and Jane returned to Grand Haven, where Wally continues to research and write about local history and family genealogy. He has co-authored several books and articles on local history, including Grand Haven Then and Now, released in late 2009, and “Poet in Repose,” an article about the dozen or so summers that the poet Edgar Lee Masters spent in the Grand Haven area. In 2011, Wally published three more books: Ace in Spoken English, a text book for Chinese university students learning English; Slaves Soldiers Citizens, African Americans in Northwest Ottawa County; and From Home to Trench, the Civil War Letters of Mack and Nan Ewing.

Member at Large, Genealogist

Karen Avery ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Karen Avery joined Ewing Family Association in 1995 and has attended Gatherings since 2004.  She was elected to the board in 2008 and continues in that capacity.  While searching for her immigrant ancestors, it was discovered that they were actually located in her own home town of Fort Wayne, Indiana as early as 1809. Due to the many years of  research for her personal lineage, she has indirectly collected names and vital data of more than 10,800 Ewing born individuals.  By serving as the EFA Genealogist, Karen is willing to share any of her work with others.

Member at Large

Daniel C. Ewing ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Daniel C. Ewing has belonged to the Ewing Family Association since the Gathering in Fort Wayne in 2006.  His interest in family genealogy goes back to the childhood story that his ancestor came from Ireland.  Dan didn’t really pursue the story until perhaps twenty years ago when he began his search at the Fort Wayne Library's Genealogy Center.  There he documented the arrival of his great-grandfather, George Alexander Ewing and his brother Robert Shaw Ewing in 1850.  The boys stayed with their Shaw uncles in Michigan, where the family stayed for four generations.  Dan has studied his branch of the Ewing family and a few other related families.  George A. Ewing’s father, Samuel, was born c1790 in Londonderry, married Jane Shaw c1830 and died March 1845 in Londonderry.

Dan lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana, married to Lois, has four children and five grandchildren and is active in a Consulting Engineering Practice with his former employer. This year Dan and Lois will celebrate their 60th Anniversary.

Current Chancellor

David Neal Ewing ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

David Neal Ewing has been a member of the Ewing Family Association since 1996 and has served as its Chancellor since 2006. He previously served as Chair of its Board of Directors from 2004-2006. He is also Administrator of the Ewing Surname Y-DNA Project, which he founded in 2004, and he is a regular contributor to the Association's Journal.

Dr. Ewing has a private practice in clinical geriatric neuropsychiatry in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He received his M.D. degree from the University of New Mexico and did his residency training at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Immediate Past Chancellor

George William Ewing ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

George William Ewing - Past Chair and Chancellor of the Ewing Family Association and sixth great-grandson of John of Carnashannagh - is a native of Muncie, Indiana, and has been a resident of Battle Creek, Michigan, since 1963. Now retired, he and his wife Marilyn spend the winter months in Boca Raton, Florida.

Member at Large

Melvin A. Ewing, Jr. ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Mel Ewing is retired from a career in Law Enforcement and resides in California with his wife, Paula.

Member at Large, Journal Editor

William Ewing Riddle ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

William Ewing Riddle is a great-great-great-grandson of Squire James Ewing (son of Alexander who was son of James Ewing of Inch Island). Bill is a Webmaster for the Association's website and Editor of its Journal.

Outside his genealogical work, Bill helps organizations certify that their software development procedures satisfy regulatory requirements and lead to high-quality products. He holds advanced degrees from Cornell and Stanford and has worked in academia, industry and government.

Member at Large

Eleanor Ewing Swineford ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

I have been a member of the Ewing Family Association since 1990 when the bi-annual gathering was held in Cecil County, Maryland. My father was Rev. Dewey Ewing born in Ashland County, Ohio, while my mother, Edith Merrill, was from Westerville, Ohio. They met while students at Otterbein College in Westerville. My father served in the ministry for 48 years and he passed away just a few years after he retired. He was called on to preach at many family funerals and officiate at family weddings. He knew many of his ancestors and had kept a large collection of hand-written records. Since 1950, I have extended our family records. I have thousands of records and documents in my library on both sides of my family. My mother's ancestors include some of the early-settler Ewing's in New Jersey. I have worked many years from military records, birth records, cemetery inventories, and many courts records from several states. Our first Ewings - who came from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1814 - were John and Anna Maria (Heichold) Ewing. John and his brother, William, were the sons of James Ewing who died in 1776 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

I retired, after 32 years, as Payroll Manager and Supervisor of a large company and live in Arkansas. From January until April I work for H and R Block.

I am working with the DAR on its Historical Preservation Project and preserving old bible records. My Patriot was from New York. I volunteer at the Jacksonville Museum of Military History. This is a great pleasure; every day is a new adventure in my genealogy research as I continue to find more and more interesting information.

Member at Large, Secretary

Beth Ewing Toscos ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Beth Ewing Toscos has belonged to the Ewing Family Association since 2004. Her interest in genealogy reaches back to the early 1970s when she first visited Scotland. More recently she embarked on a genealogical search for her earliest Ewing immigrant. After extensive research with the assistance of her sister, Jane Weippert Ewing, and cousin, Karen Avery, that vital fact still remains elusive. However, Beth has learned a tremendous amount about her father's family. The Ewing Surname Y-DNA Project has confirmed her family's place within the larger Ewing group.

In 2006, Beth assisted with the Association's Gathering in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Beth and her husband, Michael, reside in Fort Wayne. Beth has a B.S. from Purdue University and has worked as a Human Resources professional for the past 30 years.

Member at Large, Treasurer

Jane Ewing Weippert ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Jane and her husband, William, live in rural Cecil, Ohio, where they raised three daughters. Jane worked for over thirty years as a bookkeeper for her Ewing-family landscape business. She now keeps busy with helping her 88 year-old father and babysitting her two grandsons. She frequently fills in at her husband's Chiropractic office. Jane has been interested in genealogy for nearly a decade.