Newlin's Story: 1987

While he applied for academic jobs, Joel worked in a bank in New York City. By Fall 1987 he returned to the Ohio State University to supervise the teaching assistants in the Linguistics department.

Joel in Manhattan, Spring 1987

Joel with coworker's daughter at Citibank

Joel with Citibank coworkers

Joel with coworkers

Joel returned to Florida in the summer of 1987, bought a car (Mazda 323) and drove out West to attend a linguistics conference at Stanford Univerity. He and some OSU classmates drove over to the Pacific Ocean:

Joel with OSU classmate Riitta Välimaa-Blum

Joel and Riitta picnic off the trunk of his car

Allan got married in August to Cathie Coe. They were living in El Cerrito and married at Rockefeller Lodge in San Pablo.

Cathie with pet rabbit Ray Charles, El Cerrito, Summer 1987

Cathie's rented house in El Cerrito

Bridegroom Allan, August 1987

mother of the groom Newlin and bridegroom Allan

Andrew cracks a joke with Joe, Cathie, Allan, and Eric

newlyweds Allan and Cathie with Joel and with Allan's friends

Newlin with nephews and niece: Larry's wife, Larry, Kathy, and Walter (Arnie's brother Leonard's three children)

Before and after the wedding Nevis family members toured the area. Newlin's sister Floreine and her daughter-in-law Suzanne came out for the wedding from Florida, and Arnie's sister Laura came up from Los Angeles.

Suzanne, Eric, Laura, Joel, Floreine, and Andrew at the Cliff House (with Seal Rocks in background)

Newlin in a redwood tree, Muir Woods National Monument

Eric with a strangler fig, Muir Woods National Monument

Suzanne, Newlin and Andrew, Muir Woods National Monument

Newlin enjoying Muir Woods National Monument

Eric hamming it up near Mount Tamalpais

Andrew and Eric on a trail down Mount Tamalpais

Newlin, Allan and Eloise at Mount Tamalpais East Peak

Allan and Cathie came to Florida with Cathie's daughters Nikki (Nathalie) and Denise to spend Christmas with the Nevises.

Christmas tree in Newlin's living room, 1987

Scandinavian Christmas decorations on Newlin's dining room table

Stockings by the fireplace

Allan and Cathie open Christmas presents

Newlin opening a Christmas present with Nikki and Andrew

Denise in St. Augustine

Eric shows his romantic side

Between Christmas and New Year's Newlin arranged a reception at Wakulla Springs Lodge for our Ashmore relatives to meet Allan's new family: Cathie, Nikki and Denise.

Allan in a suit for the reception

Cathie and Allan on the left, Sheryl and Newlin in the middle, and Mary Alice on the right

cousins Linda and Joel

Wakulla Springs Lodge

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first post in Flashbacks  How the Nevis family came to California

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Arnold and Newlin: postscript 1986

Arnie and Newlin, 1952

Arnie and Newlin, circa 1980

There is no transition after death. Newlin and the family's lives changed dramatically after July 4, 1986. Newlin became a widow and went into mourning for a year or more, avoiding social functions for the most part. Her sister Eloise visited frequently during that year and made sure Newlin was never alone during holidays. Andrew and Eric lived at home and continued their studies, while Joel left Florida at the end of the summer for a conference in Europe and then lived in New York City for a year while looking for a job in Academia. Allan came to Florida for the funeral and returned to northern California to resume his life there. 

Newlin worked as an Alachua County school nurse several more years before retiring and working as a traveling nurse for the Florida State Children's Medical Services and she volunteered in Florida's Guardian ad Litem program.

In the early 1990s, Newlin had their son Eddie disinterred from Forest Lawn in Glendale and re-interred in the Tallahassee Memory Gardens in the family plots there. (This was done largely because Arnie's sister Laura had cancer so moving Eddie from Bill and Hazel's four plots in Glendale made room for Laura next to her sister and parents when she died in 1992. But it was also part of a long term plan for moving Eddie when Arnie and Newlin found a "final resting" place. Eddie's casket had been put in a vault so it could be disinterred more easily. Newlin was not able to be present for the reinterment so her sisters Eloise and Floreine had to do the grim job of verifying the body in the casket before it could be placed in the ground.) 

Of the four plots in Tallahassee with Arnie and Eddie flanking an empty one reserved for Newlin, the fourth was promised to Joel since as a gay man he had no prospects for marriage in 1986 and had no plans to have or adopt children, so he was expected to die alone.

next post  Newlin's Story:  1987

previous post  Arnold and Newlin:  Arnold and Newlin:  1986

first post in Flashbacks  How the Nevis family came to California

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943 

Arnold and Newlin: 1984

Eric was in the University of Florida Marching Band playing tuba:

"Tuba Artists Extraordinnaire" with Bret, "Woody" (Eric), and Mike

Arnie's safe driver's license renewal, 1984

Newlin's safe driver's license renewal, 1984

next post  Arnold and Newlin:  1985

previous post  Arnold and Newlin:  Joel in Finland 1983–1984

first post in Flashbacks  How the Nevis family came to California

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold and Newlin: Eric 1983

Photos of Eric from 1983:

Eric at the prom, Buchholz High School

Newlin and Arnie with Buchholz High School graduate Eric

Eric in his dorm room, University of Alabama

Newlin maintains her nurse's registration with the State of Florida:

Newlin's certificate as a registered professional nurse from the Florida State Board of Nursing

next post  Arnold and Newlin:  Joel in Finland 1983–1984

previous post  Arnold and Newlin:  Joel 1981–1983

first post in Flashbacks  How the Nevis family came to California

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold and Newlin: 1980

Here is the house at 3448 NW 11th Avenue in 1980. It has the original paint scheme of 1960: pink, turquoise, and brown cedar. The carport has not been closed in, despite a plan to do it from the early 1970s. The bricks in the planter in the first photo came from an old mechanic's garage in downtown Gainesville. When they tore down that garage, Joel and Allan assume they were going to toss the bricks so they started loading the trunk of the car with bricks until a police officer came by and told them the bricks were to be recycled into the new plaza. But the officer said he would look the other way as Allan and Joel left with what they had already collected. 

The camellia by the front door always bloomed in December in time for Christmas. Neighbors would stop by to request a few blossoms for their Christmas decor, and Newlin never hesitated to say yes. A second camellia balanced the living room window by the carport; it bloomed a few months later at the end of winter. In the planter around the tree she grew several colors of amaryllis. 

Arnie bought a number of narrow, woven wool ties in Sweden (mostly in Lapland) in 1970, and preferred that style to the wide ties popular in the 1970s and 1980s.

Arnie and Newlin with an acquaintance at an event

Allan, Ava, Arnie, Newlin, Eric, and Andrew on the "porch"

Arnie on Father's Day

Doug Weldon was Eric's close friend from Westwood Middle School:

Doug Weldon with Eric and Andrew

Eric in his parents' bedroom (painting of Eddie)

Eric, Arnie and Andrew

Newlin in an RV

Newlin in her kitchen; those years had tangerine paint

Newlin, Arnie, and Jeannie Uhrig

We usually stayed at the Wakulla Spring Hotel when the Ashmore family reunion was held there. Most of the Ashmore siblings and their families were within driving distance of Wakulla Springs.

Eric, Arnie and Andrew at the Wakulla Springs Hotel

Eric, Allan, Arnie, Andrew, and Joel at the Wakulla Springs Hotel

Newlin's business card as a school nurse

In 1980 we still had the orange vinyl fold-out couch in the family room. Eric is on a tubular "bean bag" that Joel and Newlin made in the mid 1970s. It, too, was vinyl, and some thirteen feet long and maybe twenty inches in diameters. Filled with shredded foam rubbed, it could be arranged in a number of ways for watching television and was popular with the boys and their friends for slouching on.

Eric relaxing in the family room

next post  Arnold and Newlin:  Joel 1980

previous post  Arnold and Newlin:  1979

first post in Flashbacks  How the Nevis family came to California

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943