Leonard McEwan
Encyclopedia
Leonard A. McEwan was an American
jurist
who was a member of both the Wyoming Supreme Court
, which meets in the capital city of Cheyenne
, and the Fourth Judicial District Court, which convenes in Sheridan
and serves Sheridan and Johnson counties. Though a Democrat
, McEvan was elected on a nonpartisan
judicial ballot in 1968, a heavily Republican
year in Wyoming. He unseated an aging incumbent
justice. McEwan was first justice and then chief justice until 1974, when he stepped down to return to become a judge of the Sheridan-based district court in northern Wyoming. (The five members of the Wyoming Supreme Court are now appointed by the governor and serve eight-year terms.) McEwan remained a district judge until his retirement in 1985. He preferred to live in Sheridan and enjoyed the diverse duties of a district judge in contrast to the academic thinking of a Supreme Court jurist. After he left the bench, he resumed his private law practice in Sheridan for a number of years.
McEwan was born to Leonard McEwan (1900–1984) and the late Olga McEwan in Great Falls
, Montana
, a city
on the Missouri River
. He grew up in Great Falls but moved to Sheridan in 1939 and graduated from Sheridan High School in 1943. During World War II
, McEwan served in the United States Army Air Corps
, the forerunner to the Air Force
. In 1955 he received a bachelor of science
degree in business
and accounting from the University of Wyoming
. In 1957, he procured his Juris Doctor
degree from the UW College of Law. He played football
for the Wyoming Cowboys
and was part of the first Cowboys team to travel by airplane to a road game.
In 1953, he married the former Cameon Wolfe (1917–1977), previously from Oklahoma
, in Story
in Sheridan County. He established his law practice in Sheridan and was a sought-after speaker and master of ceremonies
for various public gatherings. An active liberal
Democrat, McEwan contributed to U.S. Senator John Kerry
's bid for his party's 2004 presidential nomination
. He was active in the American Bar Association
, Rotary International
, the Elks Club
, Kalif Shrine
, and the American Legion
. He was a member of the Sheridan Memorial Hospital Foundation and a trustee of Sheridan College
, a two-year institution of higher learning. As one of the founders of the Sheridan College Foundation, he was instrumental in 1969 in the establishment of the dental hygiene program at the institution.
In 1970, he was active in the establishment of the Cowboy Joe Club, the main fund-raising arm of the University of Wyoming's Intercollegiate Athletic program. The Club is a non-profit organization with a member base of some 4,300 fans from throughout the United States and worldwide.
In 1995, he and his second wife, the former Mary Amschel (1922–2009), established the Leonard and Mary Amschel McEwan Music Scholarship. Sheridan College named its Herbicide
and Pesticide
Storage Building in honor of the McEwans, an event that the judge found amusing. He was also active in the UW Foundation. He made a large gift to the foundation in 1969 for stadium expansion. He supported the law school, College of Business, art museum, and the Alumni House building. He served during the early 1960s on the UW Alumni Association board.
On December 21, 2009 Mary Amschel McEwan died at the age of 87.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jurist
Jurist
A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...
who was a member of both the Wyoming Supreme Court
Wyoming Supreme Court
The Wyoming Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices. Each Justice is appointed by the Governor of Wyoming for an eight-year term. The five Justices select the Chief Justice from amongst themselves. The person...
, which meets in the capital city of Cheyenne
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Laramie County. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Laramie County. The population is 59,466 at the 2010 census. Cheyenne is the...
, and the Fourth Judicial District Court, which convenes in Sheridan
Sheridan, Wyoming
Sheridan is a city in Sheridan County, Wyoming, United States. The 2010 census put the population at 17,444 and a Micropolitan Statistical Area of 29,116...
and serves Sheridan and Johnson counties. Though a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, McEvan was elected on a nonpartisan
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....
judicial ballot in 1968, a heavily Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
year in Wyoming. He unseated an aging incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
justice. McEwan was first justice and then chief justice until 1974, when he stepped down to return to become a judge of the Sheridan-based district court in northern Wyoming. (The five members of the Wyoming Supreme Court are now appointed by the governor and serve eight-year terms.) McEwan remained a district judge until his retirement in 1985. He preferred to live in Sheridan and enjoyed the diverse duties of a district judge in contrast to the academic thinking of a Supreme Court jurist. After he left the bench, he resumed his private law practice in Sheridan for a number of years.
McEwan was born to Leonard McEwan (1900–1984) and the late Olga McEwan in Great Falls
Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls is a city in and the county seat of Cascade County, Montana, United States. The population was 58,505 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cascade County...
, Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, a city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
on the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
. He grew up in Great Falls but moved to Sheridan in 1939 and graduated from Sheridan High School in 1943. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, McEwan served in the United States Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
, the forerunner to the Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
. In 1955 he received a bachelor of science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
and accounting from the University of Wyoming
University of Wyoming
The University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university...
. In 1957, he procured his Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
degree from the UW College of Law. He played football
Wyoming Cowboys football
The Wyoming Cowboys are a college football team that represents the University of Wyoming. They compete in the Mountain West Conference of the Football Bowl Subdivision of NCAA Division I. The team has won 15 conference titles...
for the Wyoming Cowboys
Wyoming Cowboys
Wyoming Cowboys is the name given to the sports teams of the University of Wyoming. The women's teams use the name Cowgirls. The University is a member of the Mountain West Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 17 NCAA-sanctioned sports. Wrestling is the only varsity sport that is...
and was part of the first Cowboys team to travel by airplane to a road game.
In 1953, he married the former Cameon Wolfe (1917–1977), previously from Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, in Story
Story, Wyoming
Story is a census-designated place in Sheridan County, Wyoming, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the CDP population was 887.-Geography:Story is located at ....
in Sheridan County. He established his law practice in Sheridan and was a sought-after speaker and master of ceremonies
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
for various public gatherings. An active liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
Democrat, McEwan contributed to U.S. Senator John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
's bid for his party's 2004 presidential nomination
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
. He was active in the American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
, Rotary International
Rotary International
Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help...
, the Elks Club
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is an American fraternal order and social club founded in 1868...
, Kalif Shrine
Shriners
The Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, also commonly known as Shriners and abbreviated A.A.O.N.M.S., established in 1870, is an appendant body to Freemasonry, based in the United States...
, and the American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
. He was a member of the Sheridan Memorial Hospital Foundation and a trustee of Sheridan College
Sheridan College
Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a diploma and degree granting Canadian polytechnic institute with approximately 15,000 full time students and 35,000 continuing education students...
, a two-year institution of higher learning. As one of the founders of the Sheridan College Foundation, he was instrumental in 1969 in the establishment of the dental hygiene program at the institution.
In 1970, he was active in the establishment of the Cowboy Joe Club, the main fund-raising arm of the University of Wyoming's Intercollegiate Athletic program. The Club is a non-profit organization with a member base of some 4,300 fans from throughout the United States and worldwide.
In 1995, he and his second wife, the former Mary Amschel (1922–2009), established the Leonard and Mary Amschel McEwan Music Scholarship. Sheridan College named its Herbicide
Herbicide
Herbicides, also commonly known as weedkillers, are pesticides used to kill unwanted plants. Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed. Some of these act by interfering with the growth of the weed and are often synthetic "imitations" of plant...
and Pesticide
Pesticide
Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...
Storage Building in honor of the McEwans, an event that the judge found amusing. He was also active in the UW Foundation. He made a large gift to the foundation in 1969 for stadium expansion. He supported the law school, College of Business, art museum, and the Alumni House building. He served during the early 1960s on the UW Alumni Association board.
On December 21, 2009 Mary Amschel McEwan died at the age of 87.