Lowell Richard Newman

Lowell Richard (Buzz) Newman, 86, of Mansfield, Texas passed away Sunday, December 24, 2017. Buzz was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on June 11, 1931, the son of Patt Cleburne Newman and Ethel Riser Newman. He lived most of his young life in Ruston, Louisiana, San Antonio, Texas (Fort Sam Houston), Arkansas, and Yokohama, Japan, during the post-WWII Occupation, as the family followed his father’s Army career.

In his freshman year of college at Louisiana Tech University, Buzz met Miss Mickey Duncan, truly the love of his life, whom he married in 1952. That same year Buzz graduated summa cum laude with a degree in sociology and transferred to Louisiana State University to work on a Masters degree in Government. His undergraduate career was marked by academic and leadership success. He served in various offices for his fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha, was the President of the Student Union, was on the Inter-fraternity council, and served as campus social coordinator. He held memberships in Phi Kappa Phi for academic excellence, Omicron Delta Kappa for leadership excellence and Who’s Who Among Universities and Colleges in America. Before graduating from LSU with his Masters, having finished all but the final “tweaking” of his dissertation, Buzz recognized the Korean War was about to pull him into service. So he put the “tweaking” on hold (permanently as it turned out) and joined the United States Navy, serving until 1957, when he was honorably discharged as a Lieutenant JG. That year he began a career in the telephone industry, working first for the Bell System and then GTE, from which he retired in 1986.

Buzz Newman was a bigger than life personality, pursuing every interest with a vengeance. A life-long learner, he read widely, studying, teaching — particularly the Bible — and preaching. His love from an early age of the written and spoken word yielded exceptional abilities evidenced in his teaching, his legendary story and joke telling, and his skilled eloquence in writing, used often in thoughtful notes to many over the years. Buzz’s conversations were replete with quotes from the widest variety of notable people and literary works. Games, including Bridge, begun in college days, Trivial Pursuit, Milles Bornes, Monopoly, and Scrabble, he played with gusto. Baseball, tennis, basketball, and golf were all sports he immensely enjoyed and played at various times in his life; he coached all of his grandchildren in one or more of these. Additionally, pool volleyball with his family was a summer highlight. He did nothing without zealous commitment, including growing roses, tomatoes and other vegetables. Above all Buzz loved his family, intimately devoting himself to the lives of his four grandchildren.

A lover of Truth, Justice, and Equality throughout his life, Buzz championed the cause of women and minorities in a volatile time and place. His family and those who worked for him or knew him over the years will always remember him as a gentleman of the highest order and unrivaled in his moral and ethical principles.

On December 28, Lowell Richard Newman was buried in the National Cemetery in Dallas, after which his family and friends celebrated his life in a memorial service at The First United Methodist Church of Mansfield.

Buzz leaves behind his wife of 65 years, Mickey; a sister, Patsy McCuistion and her husband, Robert of Lubbock; two daughters, Dee Walsh and her husband Rick of Grapevine, and
Celia Brawner and her husband Joe of Mansfield; grandchildren Joseph Brawner and his
wife Marianne and their daughter Molly of Dallas, Michal Dee Driskill and her husband
Jeremy of Ft. Worth, Julia Walsh of Mansfield, and Richard Walsh and his wife Lyndsey of Kansas City, Kansas.

The family has asked that in lieu of flowers Buzz be honored with donations to The Salvation Army, The Kidney Foundation or The American Heart Association or any organization a donor may wish to support. Please see the links to these donation sites at the end of the obituary.

As a postscript to this summary of a remarkable life, all in his family want to share the story he would tell, were he to read or hear the glowing remarks said and written about him. (“Paint me warts and all,” he often declared, quoting Oliver Cromwell to the court painter.) On many occasions, most often when he had been introduced at some speaking engagement, Buzz would regale audiences with this tale:

““Thank you so much for your kind introduction. I have to say it reminds me of that story of the old boy from west Texas who had lived a hardscrabble life; he hadn’t been an overly good husband or father but had done his best. Upon his somewhat sudden demise, he left a destitute widow and several children. The city fathers, feeling sorry for the wife and children, got together and pooled some resources to give the man a decent burial. At the appointed day and hour, the town folk and family gathered at the Baptist church to send him on to his eternal rest. The minister who well knew the sort of ne’er—do-well his faithless congregant had been nevertheless mustered all his powers of creativity and proceeded to paint the picture of the dearly departed as if he were a saint. After several minutes of the glowing eulogizing, the wife leaned over toward the oldest of her sons and whispered: “Willie, run up there and see if that’s your pa in that casket.”

DONATIONS

The American Heart Association: https://donatenow.heart.org/

The Kidney Foundation: https://www.kidney.org/support

The Salvation Army:
https://give.salvationarmyusa.org/site/SPageNavigator/national_donation_form.html?pid=cpc:red_kettle_brand::bing:::::southern_dallas_fort_worth:salvation_army_brand:brand&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=red_kettle_national&utm_content=southern_dallas_fort_worth&utm_term=salvation_army_brand&c
or any organization of your choice.