EWALD, AUBE

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Saturday, May 09, 2009 at 07:22:16 :

Marin Independent Journal
Wednesday, July 17, 1985

Memorial Mass slated for Ewalds

A memorial Requiem Mass for the Rev. Tod W. Ewald, retired Episcopal priest and longtime Corte Madera rector, and his wife, Mary, will be celebrated at 11 a.m. July 27 at Holy Innocents’ Church in Corte Madera.

Father Ewald, who was 73, and his wife, who was 75, were found dead Monday evening at their home in Corte Madera.

Father Ewald had served as first vicar and later rector of Holy Innocents’ Parish for 31 years, beginning when he was a seminary student.

The colorful and sometimes controversial priest became known widely as a leader in the charismatic movement, as a healer and at one time for his interest in speaking in “tongues.”

“He was a controversial figure in many ways but he deeply loved the people whom he served and his Lord. He was a good priest and will be sorely missed,” said the Rev. Murray Hammond, rector of the Church of Our Saviour in Mill Valley and dean of the Episcopal clergy in Marin.

Father Ewald became a member of the Church of Our Saviour after his retirement in 1977 and served as a volunteer assistant there.

Father and Mrs. Ewald both grew up in Michigan. He taught school in Chippewa County there for 11 years until enlisting in the Navy in 1942. During the war he was married to Mary Richmond. The couple was known for their devotion to each other. They did not have children.

After World War II, Father Ewald entered the Episcopal Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley. He once said that he and his wife were the “cradle Christians” raised in the “high church” tradition of the Anglican Communion, which they continued all their lives.

Father Ewald was ordained a deacon in 1949 and as a priest in 1951.

In addition to his duties in the parish and in the diocese, Father Ewald was a chaplain at San Quentin Prison for 22 years.

Mrs. Ewald had participated in many church activities, including the choir, women’s programs, the parish thrift shop and the altar guild. Her husband once quipped, “They were lucky. They got two of us.”

Midway through his ministry, Father Ewald underwent as experience he described as “in the Baptists’ term, it was being born again.”

After that time he launched fully into healing ministries and also speaking in tongues. His services often drew members of other denominations.

When he retired, he told an interviewer, “We became a legend in our own time.”

Survivors include his sister, Mary Aube of Corte Madera.