Obituary: Wendi Ward, Practical Goods owner, believed in recycling, community

Wendi Ward was working as an attorney in St Paul when the first Gulf War started in Wendi Ward of St Paul pictured here at a St Paul restaurant on June died of a pulmonary embolism on Monday July at United Hospital in St Paul She was Courtesy of Victoria Fetter Ward the daughter of a Quaker refused to pay federal taxes as a protest against the war That act of civil disobedience led to her disbarment declared her brother Steve Ward of St Paul s East Side She still paid state and local taxes but they disbarred her for not paying her federal taxes he explained Eventually he disclosed she looked at all the stuff that she had that was cool glassware and wool and silk and wood and metal things and declared You know I should open a shop Ward of St Paul died Monday evening of a pulmonary embolism at United Hospital in St Paul She was Thrift store on Randolph Avenue Ward opened the Practical Goods thrift store on Randolph Avenue in June to recycle build neighborhood and offer spiritual resistance in a dismal situation she wrote in a history of the store posted on the store s website The store which later moved to the Jax Building in St Paul s Lowertown and then to Selby Avenue offered an extensive selection of kitchen goods sweaters baby clothes wood toys shoes and blankets She could go through a thrift store and fill a cart with epic stuff for nothing Steve Ward explained She was doing repurpose reuse recycle long before anyone else She saw that a lot of plastic crap didn t last long so her store was all practical and durable and well-made Practical Goods sold only goods that were secondhand and made from natural high-quality fibers We re determined to stamp out polyester acrylic rayon and other materials that do not bio-degrade and therefore harm the conditions Ward wrote in a post shared on the store s Facebook page We assistance our local tax base and don t feed big banks or mine your personal information Ward didn t own a TV and didn t own a car for multiple years commented her niece Eowyn Ward of Minneapolis The shop didn t start taking credit-card payments until January She was very environmentally conscious Eowyn Ward reported She was concerned about consumption and how if everything comes from a long way away there are tons of transportation fees and additional costs and additional environmental impact So she was very focused on small local businesses and natural goods You vote with your dollar Ward was proud of running an independent business and keeping money in the local financial sector Eowyn Ward explained She often noted things like You vote with your dollar and Pay attention to where your money is going and what it s contributing to Eowyn Ward disclosed Wendi Ward once wrote a long list of qualities she was looking for in feasible customers Among them People with more taste than money People who like our planet and work to keep it nice People with opposable thumbs and an appreciation of the things hands make People who wear clothes use dishes affirm the kinship of all human cultures People who might dislike living in a world that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mc-Wal-Cola In a list of intangibles explaining why supporting small businesses is good for neighborhoods Ward included her thoughts on credit-card debt overconsumption and overpackaging She also wrote We have a potty and you can use it She loved keeping humor into her dissent Eowyn Ward revealed She wasn t the kind of person who was inevitably furious and angry and just bitter about life She was like Let s not do that Moral obligation There were financial repercussions from her disbarment and Ward often would say that she was intentionally living in poverty because of the practices of our leadership Eowyn Ward stated She held that she was making that choice out of moral obligation She intentionally requested to do what was best rather than what was easy Ward grew up in St Peter Moose Lake and Duluth She graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in St Peter in In she graduated from William Mitchell College of Law in St Paul Ward loved playing Scrabble writing in her journal rescuing cats and humming soprano family and friends noted She studied voice with a famous Scottish instructor and was delighted when she was invited to go to Edinburgh just before Brexit announced longtime friend Victoria Fetter of Milwaukee Wis She had a large number of musician friends At her holiday parties Wendi would come in bearing a boar s head on a platter and intonating the Boar s Head Carol Trifle and other traditional English desserts were served to the guests For a multitude of years Ward was a regular attendee of the Renaissance Festival where she sold her handmade jewelry which was made of bone stone glass metal natural gemstones and leather rather than plastics and other types of jewelry components Eowyn Ward announced Transportation choices Ward objected to having a car for several years but later in life needed one due to her wellness her niece commented She often rode Metro Transit s Course and utilized HOURCARs located at th Street Station and nearby Macalester College writer Bill Lindeke wrote in an article about Ward headlined In Praise of Bricks and Mortar published in June I ve saved a lot of money but there are lots of other benefits Ward notified Lindeke as she traveled to a rummage sale I live along a snow-emergency trail and I ve never once had to shovel my car out of the snow Ward required that everything sold at Practical Goods be literally useful in your everyday life according to Lindeke She will happily explain to you for example the difference between a corn pot a soup pot and a stock pot why rubber boots are great for puddles or how to use a mill-style coffee grinder he wrote Related Articles Review Yacht Club festival kicks off second year with energetic Friday lineup St Paul to host Transplant Games St Paul Northern Iron Foundry files second lawsuit against MPCA St Paul Fire Chief Butch Inks appointed to second term Man randomly struck wounded by gunshot fired outside his St Paul home No-haggling framework There was a strict no-haggling framework at the shop Steve Ward noted Prices were fixed because she was an independent business person already taking a hit on everything he disclosed She barely broke even for years But she craved things to go to a good home to somebody who longed or needed that thing or would cherish it as a thing rather than buy a cheap plastic crap from China and throw it out a year later There are plenty of people out there that have stuff that they bought at Wendi s ten years ago that they re still using he reported A private family memorial is planned A populace celebration of Ward s life will be held at a future date anyone interested in attending should e-mail WendiWardS gmail com Crescent Tide Funeral Cremation in St Paul is handling arrangements