Charles Newton

Funeral Services for Charles ?Charlie? R. Newton of Mountain Home, Arkansas, will be 11:00 am Saturday, July 9, 2011 at Kirby and Family Funeral Home Chapel, with Reverend Gale Wooten officiating. Visitation will be from 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm, Friday, July 8, 2011 at the funeral home. Charlie Newton of Mountain Home, a long-time employee of Baxter County government, passed away Wednesday, July 6th, at home, after a long battle with cancer. He was 62. Born June 29, 1949, in Gainesville, Missouri, to Don Robert and Mae Denton Newton. Charlie married Sue Brown on August 24, 1968, in Oakland, Arkansas. Their son, Robert was born in November of the following year. For 16 years, Charlie worked for the Frisco/Burlington Northern Railroad, spending time in Kansas City, Missouri, Amory, Mississippi and Springfield, Missouri. He wanted to return home so his family could live where he grew up, so he went to work for the Baxter County government, holding various posts over the course of 20 years. Fifteen of those years were spent as director of the Office of Emergency Management. In 2002, he was named Arkansas Department of Emergency Management Man of the Year. During his time at Baxter County, he served on a variety of boards, including Ozark Opportunities, Pietz Cancer House, Arkansas Rural and Volunteer Firefighters, 911 Executive Board, Planning Board and Oakland Cemetery Board. Charlie loved traveling, especially to Colorado and New York. He was happy to visit New York in 2010 to see his son?s Southern restaurant, Seersucker, located in Brooklyn. In 2002 Charlie was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He went through a 10-hour surgery at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, and endured 30 radiation treatments and three kinds of chemotherapy over a four-month period. He was cancer free until January 2009. Over the past two years, he fought a long, hard and courageous battle. Charlie is survived by his wife of 43 years, Sue; his son, Robert Newton and Kerry Diamond of Brooklyn, NY; his sister, Phyllis Jackson of Independence, MO; his brother and sister-in-law Tom and Donna Newton of Kansas City, KS; his sister-in-law Michelle Andrew and her husband Bob of Miami, OK; and several nieces and nephews. His parents and a brother preceded him in death. The pallbearers will be Darrell, Durle and Ken Newton; Wylie Denton; Eldis Haskins; and Jesse Jackson. Donations may be made to Hospice of the Ozarks. Arrangements are by Kirby & Family Funeral and Cremation Services.