Newlin's Story: 1988–1989

The Nevis family in 1988 and 1989: 

Newlin at an event circa 1988

Newlin in her kitchen circa 1989

Ashmore sisters Sheryl, Newlin, Eloise, and Floreine, circa 1988

Ashmore spouses: Opal, Emmett and Clarisse

Ashmore siblings: Ludlow, Sheryl, Newlin, Eloise, Floreine, and Lytton

Ashmores: Emmett, Sheryl, Clarisse, Ludlow, Newlin, Lytton, Floreine, Eloise, and Opal

Newlin and Joel visit Newlin's niece Linda in Jacksonville circa 1988

Andrew in the family room, circa 1988

Friend and pastor Rev. Glenn Dickson with Newlin at a church event in her house

In December 1988 North Florida had a sustained hard freeze the day before Christmas and lost power in the region. An overhead pipe froze over night and then defrosted during the day bursting and flooding the back half of the family house on 11th avenue. Newlin ran to the curb in front of the house to shut off the water to the building and Joel immediately started removing everything from the bedrooms to the front of the house. Andrew and Eric were summoned home to help with that work until the late afternoon when we realized we had no place to sleep. Andrew was expedited to secure a couple of hotel rooms but managed only one room due to the weather affecting travelers on Interstate 75. We had a hard time finding a restaurant open on Christmas eve (thank you Red Lobster for being open). And for Christmas we were invited to share Christmas dinner with a family that Eric knew. 

We lost almost nothing due to the quick work we did to remove anything on the floors in the bedrooms, not even the carpeting, but we did have to replace the two decade old rug pads. Mom's insurance agent was a neighbor a few doors up the street, and he came done when power was restored with some oversized floor fans to air out the rooms, preventing mold and mildew from growing. A few months later Newlin got a check for $800 from the insurance company. That neighbor had compensated her for our manual labor that a professional company might have been paid.

Here is Andrew in the family room with dismantled bed frames behind him:

Andrew, Christmas 1988

Joel worked in Columbus at Ohio State University from 1987 to 1990 and had an excursion to Cleveland in the spring of 1988.

Joel in Cleveland, spring 1988

Joel spent the summer of 1988 in Helsinki, Finland, attending a refresher language class and visiting Finnish pals. His friend Karen Sobul from Columbus arrived for a vacation, too. They got invited to the summer cabin of an acquaintance, so they hopped a bus to the woods of southern Finland laden with food and booze. 

Joel at a road-side bus stop in southern Finland

Joel in southern Finland

Joel and Karen eat dinner with their Finnish host

Joel and Finnish friend

Joel being silly

Joel and Karen the morning after the party

Joel at someone else's summer cabin

Back in Helsinki, Joel and Karen visit Seurasaari open-air national museum; they happen upon a dance festival. Here is Joel dancing a schottische:

Joel dancing a schottische

Joel boating in the Gulf of Finland

Joel and Karen visit Tallinn, Soviet Estonia, too. They craft an improvised sign in honor of his OSU Professor Ilse Lehiste, and they manage to stop a passing Soviet sailor for a photograph.

Joel in Tallinn

Joel with Soviet sailor in Tallinn, Estonia, Soviet Union

In 1988 Allan was married and living and working near San Francisco; Andrew was a teaching assistant at the University of Florida as he finished a master's in mathematics and then entered a PhD program at Florida State University; and Eric worked on a bachelor's in microbiology. 

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Arnold and Newlin: 1986

1986 concludes the story of Arnold and Newlin together.

Ashmore sisters Eloise and Newlin in Gainesville, 1986

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.

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.

order of service for Arnold's funeral, July 8, 1986

order of service

Arnold's certificate of death from Alachua County Public Health, July 10, 1986

a certificate from President Reagan after Arnie died

Deed for four plots in Tallahassee Memory Gardens, July 11, 1987

Tallahassee Memory Gardens deed cover with stamp

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.

next post  Arnold and Newlin:  postscript 1986

previous post  Arnold and Newlin:  Arnold and Newlin:  1985

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