With a heavy heart we announce the peaceful passing of Wynne June Newell on Wednesday March 25, 2020 in Houston, Texas. June, as she was called by her family, was 95 years old. She is predeceased by her parents, Curtis and Lela Whitmire, her brother, Selmer Whitmire, and her loving husband, Lt. Colonel Charles Newell. She is survived by her four children, Wynne Weeks, Charles Newell, Mark Newell, and Jonathan Newell; their spouses Brian Weeks, Hanadi Rifai, Karen Newell, and Janiece Newell; her five grandchildren Julia Weeks, Ryan Newell, Reed Newell, Jonathan Newell II, and Sophie Newell; and her sister Emogene Robinson.
June was born in Lamesa, Texas on December 2, 1924 but grew up in the small farming community of Elbert, Texas, population 60, located southwest of Wichita Falls. June then attended Throckmorton High School and after graduating in 1942 she entered North Texas State Teachers College, majoring in home economics. She later took a job with the U.S. Weather Bureau as a Meteorological Aide and was posted in Albuquerque, Honolulu, and Cleveland. In 1952 she returned to Texas and was married to Capt. Charles Newell of the U.S. Air Force. In her career as an Air Force wife she became a mother to her four children and managed households in Florida, Texas, Maine, Nebraska, California, and South Dakota. After her husband Charlie unexpectedly passed away in 1967, she settled her family in the Clear Lake area of Houston and took classes in Political Science, graduating from the University of Houston in 1978 before embarking on a Master’s Degree in Foreign Relations at UH-Clear Lake. Her love of books guided her to the library at the UH-Clear Lake where she worked for 12 years and met many lifelong friends. She enjoyed playing bridge and mah jongg on a regular basis with her dear friends until late in life. June later became a key caretaker for her first two grandchildren while they were infants. “Junie” then became the beloved matriarch of the Newell family, hosting a multitude of holiday and family events at her home for many years.
Internment will be at a later date at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery where she joins Charlie, her beloved husband.
In lieu of flowers, if friends so desire, donations can be made in June’s memory to “The Bridge (Over Troubled Waters)” 3811 Allen-Genoa Rd, Pasadena, TX 77504, ( http://tbotw.org ) or to “Sight into Sound (Formerly Taping for the Blind)” ( http://sightintosound.org ).
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