John Ewald Wester

John Ewald Wester of Seffner, FL, was a loving grandfather, father, husband, uncle, and friend. The world lost a good man on March 5th, 2025 when John passed away at age 78. John was born to his parents Eleanor and Jim on April 25th, 1946 in Waterbury, CT.

John had miraculous medical recoveries and truly was “The Comeback Kid.” For over a decade, he bounced back from a stroke, medical procedures, surgeries, and several broken bones from multiple falls. John always managed to get back up again and somehow made his way home. The last year was different though, and the past few months John finally ran out of steam after willing himself forward for so long.

John was a hard worker all of his life and he was the ultimate provider. John was an entrepreneur in the construction industry; a skilled painter and owner of a successful commercial painting business called Statewide. John mastered the art of the deal as a “house flipper” along with his wife Sandy decades before reality shows popularized the term. One time he bought a property and within a few minutes he flipped the land for a huge profit. John also owned commercial buildings and as a young man he even owned a stock car for races in New England.

John loved vacationing in Florida and going to Disney World. He brought his family to Orlando every chance he could. Later he became a snowbird and split his time between Florida and Connecticut. Eventually he became a full time Florida resident, but he never really retired. In his “retirement years” he worked at his daughter Jaime’s company Hill Valley. John showed up every day and he worked 9-5 for 15 years as the Director of First Impressions (sometimes good and sometimes not so good).  John greeted clients, answered calls, took messages, shredded documents, sorted mail, filed paperwork, made some friends, and only pissed off a few people.

Outside of the office, John was a great corn shucker, fry dough fryer, and in a past life he was a charismatic kettle corn salesman. John enjoyed watching movies at the theater, horse races, and stock car races at the track. He also had an impressive collection of Hess Toy Trucks. Over the years, John kept in touch with his friends and family by telephone and forwarded funny emails. John had a quick wit and he said a lot of clever things such as, “Never trust a man who wears a belt with suspenders because you can’t trust a man who doesn’t trust his own pants.”

John was a math whiz too; he was great with numbers and he solved complicated problems in his head. He had fun playing solitaire on his computer. John loved his family and cherished his granddaughter, Nadia. The two of them had some epic play dates where they spent hours playing together with toys and board games.

John said he married the woman of his dreams because he literally dreamt about Sandy before they met. John and Sandy were married for 52 years. John loved being a Husband, Daddy and Grampy. John was a family man and his family isn’t the same without him. John, we love you and miss you more than you’ll ever know.

John is preceded by his father James E. Wester and mother Eleanor G. (Kramer) Wester. John is survived by his wife Sandra “Sandy” (Galullo) Wester, daughter Tracee Wester, daughter Jaime (Wester) Goujon, son in-law Mark R. Goujon, granddaughter Nadia A. Goujon, sisters, nieces, nephews, family, and friends.

Your condolences are appreciated and you are welcome to share your favorite memories, stories, and photos of John. The family will hold a celebration of life service with extended family and friends on March 17th, Monday 5:00-7:00pm. If you would like to send flowers to display at the service, please deliver the arrangement to Tampa Cremation & Burial Service, 8109 E Martin Luther King Blvd, Tampa, Florida, 33619, by March 17th, Monday 12:00pm.