Juawanna Colbert Newman

Juawanna B. Colbert Newman, 85, loving wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, and friend, passed away surrounded by family on March 16, 2024, after a brief battle with cancer.

Juawanna was born on November 27, 1938, to Helen Ticknor Colbert and David Colbert in Durant, OK. In her youngest years, after her parents divorced, she and her mother lived with her grandparents in Durant where she was showered with love and became very close to both her grandmother and grandfather. Her mother later remarried, and she was lovingly raised by her step-father, Drexel Hodge, and her mother.

When she was young, her family moved quite often because Drexel worked for an oil company, and they usually re-located during the summer when school was out, making it hard for her to make friends. One of the first things she learned to do after these frequent moves was to find a church to attend, no matter the denomination, so she was able to learn about different faiths; she also sought out a library to check out books to read. As a result, she developed a deep love for literature that continued into adulthood and helped to mold the teacher that she would become.

At Andrews High School in Andrews, TX, Juawanna met the love of her life, Robert Joe Newman. The first time Robert saw her, she was onstage reciting “The Littlest Angel” at a school assembly and he immediately fell in love with her. They dated briefly before he graduated and went to college at Texas Tech in Lubbock. With the help of friends who would help coordinate and let her know when he was coming into town, they would see each other whenever they could.

Robert and Juawanna were married on June 6, 1956 in Andrews right after her high school graduation.

After they were married, Juawanna joined Robert in Lubbock and worked at a law firm to help finish putting Robert through college at Texas Tech, where he also worked 2 jobs to pay for college.

Robert graduated with a Geology degree in 1960, and the young couple moved to El Paso, TX, where Robert accepted a job teaching chemistry and physics at Bel Air High School.

After moving to El Paso, they welcomed their first child, Dana Elizabeth Newman in1960, followed later by Jeffrey Paul Newman in 1965. During this time, Robert and Juawanna decided it was her turn to have a chance to go to college, as she had supported him in getting his degree. She majored in education at UTEP, with a dream of becoming an English teacher. Having 2 young children at home, college schoolwork was a challenge, but she was determined to finish. Taking 8 years to get her degree, it was a very proud moment when she graduated.

After graduating from college, Juawanna decided to take a couple of years off to stay at home with Jeffrey and spend some quality time with him as she had done with Dana earlier, because she had been busy with school when he was born.

Her first job after graduation was at South Loop School, where she taught 8th grade English for a few years. When an opening for her dream job of being a high school English teacher became available at Ysleta High School, she excitedly applied and was hired. She taught there from 1975 through 1994.

After a few years at Ysleta, Juawanna had the opportunity to teach the yearbook and school newspaper classes, which she did for several years. She soon got the chance to teach creative writing classes, which was really her passion, alongside her regular English classes. Later in her career, she opened “The Write Place” at Ysleta, a writing center where teachers sent students who needed help writing papers for different classes. It was here that she taught tutors to be able to help the other students with their writing.

When Ysleta was remodeled near the end of her career, Juawanna worked very hard to lovingly save and catalog school artifacts found behind lockers, walls, and other places, to be put into the high school museum, which she had a big part in creating right before she retired.

At Ysleta, “Mrs. Newman” truly loved teaching and shared her passion for literature with her students. She also loved her students very much. Many former students have kept in touch with her, and several of them have credited her with changing their lives for the better, with some even becoming English teachers because of her influence in their lives. In recent years, with the advent of social media, she was able to reconnect with many former students.

After retirement, Juawanna was able to concentrate on her hobby of creating miniatures and miniature scenes, furnishing dollhouses, and later, beautiful dolls. She lovingly created their faces, saying the clay talked to her and told her who it wanted to be, and making them amazingly lifelike. One of her greatest joys was sharing her love of miniatures with her grandchildren. They would travel eagerly to her house to create their own stories and scenes, spending many hours learning her techniques, with her cheering them on enthusiastically and lending suggestions as needed.

Her website, www.wannainelpaso.com, was where she catalogued step by step tutorials on how she created her minis as well as pages in storytelling for each miniature scene. She was known all over the world for her miniature work, dolls, and storytelling, and admired by many. She loved to tell stories on Facebook and interact with those who commented. It was a joy for her to connect with people all over the world through those stories. Many of her grandchildrens’ projects can be found on her website as well.

She was grandmother to six beloved grandchildren – Joshua Lee McCartney, Jeremy Robert McCartney, Joel Christopher McCartney, Jenna Marie McCartney, Joseph William Newman, and Laura Ruth Newman, and one great Grandson – Callum Robert McCartney, and another on the way, who all loved her very much.

Juawanna was preceded in death by her stepfather Drexel Hodge, mother Helen Ticknor Hodge, brother Robert Michael Hodge, sister Angela Kay Embrey Castillo, and sister Drexanne Troutt.

She is survived by her loving husband of almost 68 years, Robert Joe Newman, daughter Dana Elizabeth Newman McCartney (Lee) and son Jeffrey Paul Newman (Bonnie), several nieces and nephews, and her six grandchildren and one great grandchild.

It is said Juawanna never had a bad word to say about anyone, and she loved her family fiercely. She leaves a legacy of treasured memories to be cherished by family and friends alike.

Graveside Service will be held Saturday, March 23, 2024 at 11 a.m. at Restlawn Memorial Park Cemetery.