James Delos "De" Newell

January 26, 1924 - December 12, 2020

James Delos ”De” Newell passed away on Saturday, December 12, 2020, at The Springs of Lafayette. He was born at home in Templeton, Indiana on January 26, 1924, the son of James William Jay Newell and Mary Ellen Sturgeon Newell. He was the second child of their seven children. He also had two older half siblings. In all he had four brothers and four sisters. De grew up in Benton County, living there for most of his first 30 years of life. If you knew him from Benton County, you knew him as De Newell. He then moved to Tippecanoe County in 1954. If you knew him from Tippecanoe County, you knew him as Jim Newell. His upbringing in Templeton during the Great Depression, with no electricity, no indoor plumbing and little money, instilled a strong work ethic in him. De began milking dairy cows daily when he was six years old. By the age of 12, he was working daily with his father on the P. J. Kennedy farm in Templeton. Still he found time to enjoy playing basketball whenever he could. He continued to work for the Kennedy family through high school, as well as post high school and after his three-year stint in the military. He remained close to the Kennedy family to the end. De graduated from Oxford High School in 1942. He proudly boasted of being an Oxford Blue Devil the rest of his life. He was one of the best basketball players of his era; his scoring average was in the teens when many teams barely averaged double that. He also played baseball. The highlight of his high school baseball career was beating Lafayette Jeff 8-7 during his senior year in his only pitching performance of his career. His father, Jay, died during the end of his junior year at Oxford. For his senior year, he lived at the home of his high school friend, Wayne Elliot, so he could finish his schooling as a Blue Devil. His beloved high school coach Howard “Woody” Wood helped him procure an opportunity to continue to play basketball at what is now Indiana State University after high school. However, he instead opted to join the Army Air Corps to support his mother and siblings. Had he gone to ISU, his coach would have been John Wooden by the end of his four years. Many years later he boasted to his grandsons that he still had four years of college eligibility left! He began his military service in April 1943. He was an engine mechanic for B17s and B29s for the Army Air Corp. Near the end of his service, he was stationed at Istres, France. While there, he helped his squadron’s baseball team win the military championship of France by hitting a game winning home run in the title game. After his honorable discharge in December 1946, he returned to Benton County. He later met Theresa A. Sondgerath in 1949 at the 100 Mile House in Fowler. He walked her home that night and the rest is history.They were married on November 28, 1950 at Sacred Heart Church in Fowler. They loved to dance, bowl, golf, and travel. They both worked in Fowler until they moved to an apartment in West Lafayette in late 1954. They then bought their first and only house on South 22nd Street, Lafayette, IN on May 27, 1955, where he continued to reside until moving to The Springs in 2019. The proudest moments of his and Theresa’s lives were the births of their three children, Jeff, Jana and Julie. De worked for the City of Lafayette Fire Department from December 1956 to early 1978, earning the rank of Captain along the way. He also started his own carpet cleaning business in 1962, which he ran until 1995. In 1986, he began working as a tour escort for Imperial Travel, a job he held for 30 years. His favorite trips were to Washington DC, where he saw 6 major monuments built over those years, and to Wrigley Field, where he saw over 400 games during his lifetime. De was active in many facets of his children and grand-children’s lives. He was a 65-year member at St. Mary Cathedral in Lafayette, serving as an usher for most of those years. He was also actively involved over the years as a volunteer with the Jeff Booster Club (helping Marian Crawley start the annual Jeff Antique Show), the Colt League World Series, the YMCA, Meals on Wheels, the VFW, the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and American Legion Post 11, where he was a 75-year member. He was also an ardent Cubs fan and Purdue fan as well as an avid gardener. Surviving him are his three children: son Jeffrey J. Newell (wife Sharon), of Lafayette, daughter Jana Marie Anthrop (husband John), of West Lafayette, and daughter Julie Ann Newell, of Lafayette. There also are five surviving grandsons: Kyle Andrew Newell of Washington DC, Jade Joseph Anthrop (wife Amie) of Lafayette, Dru Gerry Anthrop of Playa Vista, California, Daniel John Anthrop of West Lafayette, and Jackson Jaymes Anthrop of West Lafayette. There are also two surviving great-grandsons: James Oliver Arthur Anthrop and Asher Sage Ellis Anthrop, and one great-granddaughter, Lennon Charlotte Rose Anthrop, all of Lafayette. Also surviving are two siblings, Larry Newell (wife Sandy) of Georgetown, Texas and Helen Christopher of Otterbein, Indiana as well as over 80 nieces and nephews, including two god-daughters, Kathy Stevens of West Lafayette and Teresa Olszyk of Westfield, IN. De was preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Theresa A. Newell (2014), his eldest grandson Justin M. Newell (1996), his parents James William Jay Newell (1941) and Mary Ellen Newell (1986) and by six siblings: Leland Leroy “Ike” Newell (1949), Betty Jane Flynn (2004), Harold “Bud” Newell (2018), Carmen Roudebush (2014), Jack Newell (1994) and Mary Mahoney (1999). He was also predeceased by his lifetime friend Ralph Morgan (2019). Due to Covid, there will be no visitation. The funeral Mass will be at St. Mary Cathedral, 1207 Columbia Street, Lafayette, IN on Monday, December 21, 2020, at 10:30 am. with Bishop Emeritus William Higi, Father Dennis O’Keeffe and Father Bob Klemme presiding. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the American Legion Post 11 baseball or St. Mary Cathedral. Interment will follow at the Tippecanoe Memorial Gardens. The Lafayette Fire Department will honor De by transporting him from the church to the cemetery in the 1938 fire truck housed at the museum at Five Points. It is the fire truck that De drove when he first joined the force in 1955. They will then conduct the Last Alarm ceremony at the cemetery to be followed by military honors by American Legion Post 11 Honor Guard. Live webcasting of the funeral Mass will be available at www.hippensteelfuneralservice.com Click on the link below to watch the webcast for James Delos ''De'' Newell. https://webcasts.lifetributes.com/1108113 http://videos.lifetributes.com/1108113