BEAVER DAM, WI, Sept. 14, 2021 — WDS Construction, Inc., a nation-wide provider of commercial construction management and development services, announced company namesake Dewey Westra passed away on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, at the age of 92.

WDS Construction was founded in 2005 by Ben Westra when he used the first names from the three generations of contractors before him—great-grandfather William, grandfather Dewey and father Steve—to name the business. Before Dewey represented the “D” in WDS, he made his mark on the industry at the local, state, national and international levels, and was an award-winning pioneer for merit-based construction.

It was 1948 and Dewey was a senior at Randolph High School when he joined his father, William, providing masonry services to local farmers who needed to expand their milk houses to make room for storage conversions from milk cans to bulk tank coolers. In 1959, William and Dewey officially incorporated Westra Construction and their Waupun-based company would later become one of the nation’s largest commercial construction firms.