Gordon L. Newby

Gordon L. Newby 1909 ~ 2005 Gordon Lewis Newby was born June 4, 1909. He died May 24, 2005 in Vancouver, WA. He taught school at Highland High and was a professional wood sculptor. His wife, Gladys Darnell Newby, preceded him in death. He is survived by a son, Gordon Darnell Newby; and a daughter, Patricia Newby Dyches; three grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Graveside services will be held Wednesday, June 1, 2005, 11 a.m. at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, 1342 East 500 South. Funeral directors, Neil O'Donnell and Sons.

Published in the Salt Lake Tribune from 5/29/2005 - 5/31/2005.



The above obit and picture were stolen from the Salt Lake Tribune web site in May of 2005.

After the grave-side service, I sent an email to my parents describing it:

Just back from the grave-side service. Gordon D. and Trisha and spouses were there as well as three teachers from Highland High, Mrs Hashimoto (The Dr Ed Hashimoto's wife), his eye doctor (name has already escaped me), Bruce Christiansen and his family, and the family who live next door to Gordon's house on 10th East.

Bruce, Gordon D., the eye doctor, Trisha's husband, one of the Highland teachers, and I were pallbearers. Bruce read the eulogy - essentially snippets from his autobiography from start to end of his life that Trisha assembled in Gordon's voice. Difficult for Bruce to read because Gordon singled him out as one of his teaching successes.

This was followed by an opportunity for others to speak. The first to speak was the man who hired Gordon to teach at Highland. Then it was my turn and I went on for a while. I talked about my introduction to Gordon's class (thank you), about his tendency to tell stories over and over again, about how time in the classroom was intellectually stimulating, about how class size slowly dwindled until it was just Bruce and me, about reading Tuesdays with Morey while Gordon was recuperating from problems with his pacemaker, about his departure to Washington, about our phone conversations, about the last time I saw him, about how he kept his last promise to me by not dying until after I came back from Antigua.

I also noted how I observed a similarity in our relationship to a short experience I had in Flagstaff last weekend. Gordon is 44 years older than I and last weekend I met a young girl who is 48 years younger. It is interesting to me that the dynamics in the two relationships are so similar. In Gordon's last days our conversations were a bit one sided with me talking and Gordon encouraging me to talk. This same happened with the young girl. This is how we fill the hole in our life.

Trisha thanked us all for being there for Gordon noted that when she found Gordon's phone busy on Tuesday nights she knew why. Gordon D. read the Mourners Kaddish in Hebrew and then in English. Trisha's husband followed with an LDS dedication of the grave site.

And that was it. Simple conversation and remembrances for a while and then back to our lives.

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Last modified: 2009 Mar 06 1646:45 UTC