Gerald & Sarah Newell

Gerald Audry Newell of Roseburg, Oregon passed away at home on March 26, 2023 at the age of 93. Gerald was born February 12, 1930 in Ontario, California and presented to Audry and Rachel Newell of San Bernardino, California on March 19, 1930. He was an only child. At the age of 18 he joined the United States Marine Corps as a tank mechanic. In his twenty years of service to the Corps he had special duty in Twenty-Nine Palms, Japan, and Waco, as well as participation in both the Korean and Vietnam Campaigns. During his special duty in Waco, a chain of events would lead him to his family.

Sarah Lucretia (Gibbs) Newell of Roseburg, Oregon passed away in Waco on November 11, 2022 at the age of 80. Sarah was born November 26, 1941, in Borger, Texas to George and Anna Dale Gibbs. She was the fourth of six children. After high school in 1961 she had her first child, George O’Neal. As a single mother she worked in her mother’s beauty shop as a hair dresser and the glass factory. In the fall of 1963 Gerald and Sarah’s paths finally cross. Gerald had previously met George at the stock yard with his Uncle Tommy, and when he spotted George with his mother, Gerald mentioned to his best man, that he was going to have to tame the twitch in her hip. He asked her younger brother if he could ask her for a date, and three months later they were forever a family. The first year brought the worst challenge any family could have ever expected, with the loss of their first daughter, Luann Kathleen. In 1964 Gerald’s service to the Marine Corps would relocate them to the family ranch in Oregon, as Gerald prepared to depart for Vietnam. Gerald returned to the states in 1967 and the family would be relocated again, to Camp Pendleton, California, and in May of 1968 Gerald retired from the United States Marine Corps. With the end of Gerald’s military service, the family returned to Oregon and in July, 1968 they welcomed their second daughter, Sheri Ann.

They lived a country life, raising Santa Gertrudis cattle, quarter horses, and children. Sarah stayed busy burning up the highway keeping after George. They made sure he was always involved in something whether it be the Boy Scouts, 4-H, band or sports. You could always find Gerald on the side lines of every game he attended, and Sarah sending encouragements from the bleachers. She could never watch him wrestle. She’d turn her head, as to not see the pain he would be in.

They were active grange members for many years, and remained members till their deaths. Gerald was a Moose member, and Sarah was a Rebekah. While earning his millwright credentials at Umpqua Community College, he worked for the local schools as a custodian and in 1971 he started working for Roseburg Lumber before retiring in 1992. In 1973 Sarah would start her career at Umpqua Community College in the cafeteria. At the college she encountered many people who would describer her as kind, having a wonderful sense of humor, and a devoted mother and grandmother. Her determination led her to the head of her department. She retired after 27 years in 2000.

In the spring of 1977, they sold their ranch and moved to Roseburg, where they lived for the next 45 years. Leaving the ranch opened up doors for them to spend more time to follow George and Sheri with their activities. Gerald and George loved to fish for Mackinaw and Kokanee at O’Dell Lake, so the family spent quality time camping there. While Gerald entertained the kids fishing, Sarah would lose herself in one of her books. She loved reading almost as much as she loved her family!

In 1982 George gave them their first grandson, Ryan O’Neal, with son Gerald (Gerry) Scott soon to follow. 1987 brought them John Henry, son of Sheri and in 1991 Tyler Stewart, George’s last son.

With George and Sheri living in California with their families, Gerald and Sarah would travel every Christmas and Spring break to spend time with her grandsons. They would return in June to grab them up and take them on whatever summer adventure they had planned. Taking them to Texas or just back to Oregon, depending on where their great Nanny Gibbs was going to be. Sarah taught her family the importance of spending time with family, and Gerald backed her all the way. While Sarah wasn’t with her grandsons, she spent much of her time quilting. Something that her and her mother enjoyed doing together. Eventually Gerald and his grandsons, built her a shop of her own, and hung a sign that read, Sarah’s Quilt Shop. Sarah never forgot where she came from, and traveled to Texas every other summer until her mother could no longer make the trip to Oregon, and then every summer. Gerald often told a story about how his brother-in-law chewed him out for allowing Sarah to travel to Texas alone with three kids. Gerald’s reply, she has a new car, a credit card and you know your sister is going to do what she wants to do.

Gerald’s love for fishing drove in to buying an ocean-going boat, that would eventually lead him to the Coast Guard Auxiliary. He soon joined as a member and spent another 20 years serving his county by teaching boat safety, along with traveling to local high schools helping juniors and seniors prepare to apply for the Coast Guard Academy.

Gerald and Sarah spoiled their children and grandchildren, not with material objects, but with ALL the LOVE and SUPPORT any one person could ever ask for!

Memorial services will be held 10:30 a.m., Saturday, December 9, 2023 at Aderhold Funeral Home Chapel in West, with Rev. Terry McElrath officiating. The family will receive visitors from 10:00 a.m. until service time Saturday, December 9 at the funeral home. They will be laid to rest at Gerald Cemetery near Leroy.