1986 concludes the story of Arnold and Newlin together.
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| Ashmore sisters Eloise and Newlin in Gainesville, 1986 |
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| Newlin after an exercise class at Gainesville High School, 1986 |
Joel was working in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan for a term and returned to Gainesville on July 2. Arnie died of a heart attack in the early hours of July 4. Newlin's sister Eloise happened to be visiting at the time and stayed on to help Newlin with the funeral arrangements and mourning. There was viewing for Arnie in Gainesville and then a second viewing in Tallahassee, where the funeral was subsequently held in a chapel of Culley and Sons Funeral Home. Arnie was buried in Tallahassee Memory Gardens on the edge of Tallahassee, close to Havana, Florida. Later their son Eddie was disinterred from Forest Lawn in Glendale and reinterred in Tallahassee. Newlin bought a fourth plot that was decades later transferred to Joel.
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| Arnie's obituary in the Gainesville Sun, July 1986 |
Rev. John Dickson from Westminster Presbyterian Church in Gainesville officiated at Arnie's funeral in Culley and Sons Funeral Home.
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| order of service for Arnold's funeral, July 8, 1986 |
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| order of service |
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| Arnold's certificate of death from Alachua County Public Health, July 10, 1986 |
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| a certificate from President Reagan after Arnie died |
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| Deed for four plots in Tallahassee Memory Gardens, July 11, 1987 |
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| Tallahassee Memory Gardens deed cover with stamp |
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| March 29, 1988, letter from Abbey Memory Gardens to Newlin about the plots' deed |
Arnie died at age 64, just one month shy of his 65th birthday, so he did not make it to his retirement. Because he was still an employee at the University of Florida, he left a larger insurance payout to Newlin than he would have with retirement. And since they had just bought a new car, Newlin make the one car payment and then the car insurance paid the rest of the car, so in a sense he left Newlin a brand new Honda almost for free. She had that car another two decades before passing it on to her grandchildren, who had it another decade.
Arnie died prematurely; the family would have gladly gone without the "free car" and the insurance payout to hang onto him longer in life. His older brother Leonard, a smoker and a drinker, outlived him by more than twenty years (passing away in 2006). Newlin lived another thirty years as a widow, dying in 2016 at age 90.
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first post in Flashbacks How the Nevis family came to California
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