William Erwin
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William Walter Erwin, September 28, 1925 - September 12, 2020
Born in 1925 when contacting Central was necessary to put calls through on hand crank
phones, William Walter Erwin led a life and career distinguished by service, innovation, and
imagination. A lifelong Hoosier, he died age 94 on September 12 in Sarasota, Florida, owning a
smartphone.
Erwin's decades of service to community, state, and nation began during World War II
when, as a young man, he was a member of the Army Air Corps. Having grown up on a farm in
rural Marshall County, Indiana, when he returned to civilian life he started farming 80 acres he
bought with money earned from 4-H projects. He gradually expanded his land holdings and over
the years assumed leadership roles in agricultural organizations, at his death holding the
distinction of being the longest serving member of the Farm Foundation Round Table -- 65
years.
Under Presidents Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Bush, Erwin applied his
farming expertise in rural development issues on the national level through his appointment to
significant positions which took him around the country as well as to Washington, D.C. where he
served as Assistant Secretary of Agriculture from 1973 to1975. Internationally, he led the US
delegation to a United Nations conference on rural development in Bulgaria.
At home, Erwin was elected an Indiana state senator and earned a reputation for
problem-solving. During the farm crisis of the 1980s, he served on the board that rescued the
quasi-federal Farm Credit System from serious financial difficulty, accomplishing this feat on
time and using only one-third of the System's former budget.
A strong lifelong proponent of education, Erwin earned his bachelor's degree in
agricultural economics from the University of Illinois where he met his wife, June. He was later
awarded an honorary doctorate by Purdue University. He loved learning and pursued his
personal interest in history with continuing education courses and through the nightly reading of
history books stowed beneath his bed. Family trips included visits to Civil War sites, and he
tucked away stories told to him by war veterans he met along the way. He later shared these
stories with his children and grandchildren. His appreciation for British history also resulted in
family travels overseas.
Erwin took pride in training young, aspiring farmers, and as a member of the Community
Foundation of Marshall County, he funded scholarships for students at Ancilla College in
Marshall County. He was a member of numerous industry and civic organizations and boards,
including the White River Park Development Commission, the Purdue Farm Policy Study
Group, the Masonic Lodge, the Shriners, the American Legion, and the Indiana Farm Bureau.
Erwin learned early in life that innovation could pay off. As a boy, he came up with
creative ideas to deal with livestock which others thought lacked value, and the result was
financial success. He was always open to new ideas in farming which he could adapt to the
Indiana acreage he owned, and in 1958 he was named one of four Outstanding Young Farmers in
America. In the 1960s he asked experts if a marshy area of the farm could be turned into a pond;
they told him it would not work. He knew his land, and he had the imagination and innovative
skills to try despite their discouragement. He dug the pond, still beautiful after 55 years, that
thousands from the area learned to swim in, receiving Red Cross certificates.
Conservation mattered to Erwin, and in 1970 he joined the newly created Environment
Protection Agency as their agricultural consultant. He applied evolving concepts in
environmentally responsible farming throughout his career, adapting general recommendations
to specific situations he encountered on his farm. He worked to conserve wildlife as well, on the
farm and in state parks. Appreciating the area's history of hardwood trees, he dedicated acres to
young walnuts, oaks, and fir, enlisting the help of many of his grandchildren on snowy spring
breaks in planting them. He explained his commitment to tree-planting as a type of "deferred
gratification," a precept he taught his grandchildren and demonstrated to them as they grew older
and the farm trees grew tall.
Passionate about serving his fellow citizens and country, Erwin also valued serving slices
of top quality beef from cattle raised on the farm to his family from the head of the dinner table
at holiday gatherings in the farmhouse where he was raised, a structure now on the National
Historic Registry. His garden in his later years became legendary for asparagus, tomatoes, and
sweet potatoes as well as gladiolas and zinnias which he shared throughout the Bourbon area.
His sense of whimsy and being willing to try something new was reflected in his introduction of
swans to the farm pond, llamas to the pond field, and peacocks to patrol the farm at large, all to
the delight of his grandchildren.
Erwin's varied experiences and rich imagination made him a popular public speaker, and
he published six volumes of historical fiction, often drawing upon stories he told his
grandchildren during lengthy drives negotiating the backroads of Europe while on vacation.
Will Erwin, a Sagamore of the Wabash and Kentucky Colonel, was preceded in death by his
parents, Lewis and Eleanor Erwin; his wife, June Bramlet Erwin; his sister, Emily Erwin Kofron;
son, Lewis Erwin II and great granddaughter Anna. Surviving are his daughter Hope and
son-in-law Richard, his son James, daughter-in-law Jacquie, nine grandchildren, and ten
great-grandchildren.
Burial is private, and a celebration of his life will be held post-COVID-19. Contributions to the
Marshall County Community Foundation, Will and June Erwin Community Fund in Plymouth,
Indiana can be made in his memory. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you plant a tree in his
name .