The son of Montine and Oswald Newell, Oswald (better known as “Ozzie”) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was raised in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where he graduated from Pine Bluff High School. Ozzie attended Georgia Tech University where he received his Master’s degree in chemical engineering. He was a brilliant student and earned membership in several academic honor societies: Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Eta Sigma, Tau Beta Pi, and Alpha Chi Sigma. He joined Sigma Nu Fraternity, and he worked his way through college teaching math. While at Georgia Tech, he met and fell in love with his wife, Virginia (“Gennie”). They were married two years later; she was the love of his life.
After college, Ozzie began a long and prosperous career with Continental Oil Company. He began in the field working at a refinery in Denver, Colorado, and ended his career as Executive Vice President of World Wide Refining at Conoco. He and the family lived in several states including Oklahoma, California, Massachusetts, and Denver, Colorado, where he built a beautiful home. But he claimed Houston, Texas, as his final home, where he had resided since 1966. Travelling throughout the world, playing some of the most exclusive golf courses worldwide, and sharing these experiences with his family were more than he could have dreamed for himself.
Active in the community, Ozzie was a member of the American Petroleum Institute and National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. He served as president of the National Arthritis Foundation. He and Gennie were also active supporters of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Natural Science, Houston Grand Opera, and the Heritage Society of Houston.
Throughout his life, Ozzie seemed to have a hard shell on the outside, but he was always a warm, empathetic, and genuinely kind person on the inside. He always spoke the truth, and he was always willing to help others in any way he could. Like his wife, he was a devout Christian—Every night before he and his wife went to bed, they would read a verse from the Bible and say the Lord’s Prayer.
Ozzie’s hobbies included tennis, bowling and hunting, but his greatest love of all was golf. He was a plus handicap with the bragging rights to nine hole-in-ones. He was a member of Champions Golf Club in Houston, where he enjoyed playing golf with friends including pros Jackie Burke and Jimmy Demaret. Ozzie played courses all over the world, his favorites being Mauna Kea, Augusta, St. Andrews, Gleneagles, and Pebble Beach. Some of his favorite memories were playing golf with Arnold Palmer and Chi Chi Rodriguez, but nothing compared to playing golf with his wife, Gennie.
Ozzie was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 62 years, Virginia; his parents, Oswald Newell and Montine Fryer Newell; and his daughter and son-in-law, Mary and Gary Becker. He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Bo and Sheila Newell, and grandson, Aron Newell; his daughter and son-in-law, Genny and John McIntyre, and grandchildren, Madi and Mason; and his daughter and son-in-law, Debbie and Jim Bidock.
The family expresses a special thanks to Ozzie’s wonderful caregivers who eased and comforted him in his final years: Lucy Graves, Karen Adams, Myrtice Sterling. Victoria Jones, and Kim Preston. Thank you also to Amazing Grace Hospice, who were so helpful in these final weeks.
Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from three until five o’clock in the afternoon on Sunday, the 7th of April, in the library and grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.
A memorial service is to be conducted at two o’clock in the afternoon on Monday, the 8th of April, in the chapel of Chapelwood United Methodist Church, 11440 Greenbay Street in Houston, where Dr. Scott Endress, Pastor of Reaching and Senior Adult Ministries, is to officiate. Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception in the adjacent Sunshine Room.
Prior to the service, the family will have gathered for a private entombment at the Oaks Mausoleum of Memorial Oaks Cemetery in Houston.
In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests with gratitude that memorial contributions in Ozzie’s name be directed to Amazing Grace Hospice, 5502 Fourth St., Katy, TX, 77493; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, P.O. Box 4486, Houston, TX, 77210-4486; or to the charity of one’s choice.
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