David John Gewalt

David John Gewalt, 77, a devoted servant of Our Lord, was called to eternal rest on March 11th, 2026 in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament at Marytown's adoration chapel. Born on December 17th, 1948 to John and Dorothy (Woest) Gewalt, Dave was a man whose life was defined by hard work, meekness, and a humble heart. Dave grew up in Milwaukee, where he went to school with and married his high school prom date Barbara on August 28th, 1971. They spent 55 years committed to one another in marriage, raising two children and ten grandchildren.

Dave was known for being quiet, but warm and excruciatingly hard to get words out of, unless he was talking about his interests, which centered around anything engineering related and in recent years, his grandchildren and gardening. He worked diligently and meticulously to lift up his family - from boyhood, when he started his own paper route to pay for High School through his last day, Dave worked in support and service of those whom he loved. He was an entrepreneur at heart, founding his civil engineering firm, Gewalt-Hamilton Associates, with his partners Bob Hamilton, Bruce Shrake, and Mike Shrake, where he spent 44 years building a company and a legacy that continues to benefit his employees and the clients he served before retiring just five years ago.

Dave had a gentle demeanor, warm smile, strong work ethic, dedication to serve others, and was deeply faithful. He quietly embodied the Catholic virtues of humility, discipline, charity, generosity, patience, kindness, self-sacrifice and mercy - he was the last in line for everything (except maybe confession), rarely raised his voice, slow to anger, reserved judgment, never demonstrated anger towards another, rich in kindness, did not seek recognition for his good works, and centered his life around Our Lord by rising daily by 3AM to pray and attend daily mass.

David is survived by his loving wife, Barbara, brother Michael (Barbara) Gewalt, sister Laurie (Peter) Rausch, children Bryant (Nicole) Gewalt & Lauren (Wojciech) Kuczek, and ten grandchildren: Helena, Franciszka, John, Jozef, Mary, Peter, Elizabeth, Hannah, Isabella, and Henry. David was preceded in death by his parents Dorothy (Woest) and John Gewalt.

Visitation will be held at Saint Patrick's Catholic Church, Lake Forest, IL. on Saturday March 28th, 2026 at 10AM with a mass of Christian burial celebrated at 11AM. Burial to follow at St. Mary's Cemetery in Lake Forest, IL.

In leu of flowers, donations can be made to relevant radio: https://relevantradio.com/support/giving-options/