Sherman Leroy Newton

Sherman Leroy Newton, a Lab retiree, died June 13. He was 82.

Born Oct. 12, 1929, in Brookhaven, Miss., he attended Brookhaven schools and, graduated from Brookhaven High, where he played football and was a member of the theatrical club. He was awarded a scholarship to Moterno Technical College, but declined in order to enlist in the Navy like his brothers before him.

Newton served as an electrician and movie projectionist on the USS Mansfield during the Korean War. His training in the Navy brought him to California where he met Opal Reasoner in Pleasanton while attending a shipmate's wedding. The couple married and settled in Pleasanton after Newton's honorable discharge in 1952.

He took many electrician positions until he found a full time position in 1953 at the Lab, where he worked until his retirement in 1987. He was an assistant deputy associate director in Plant Engineering.

The couple had four children, Michael Leroy of Modesto, Richard Elwin of Livermore, Randall, who died nine months after birth, and Juanita Ruth of Issaquah, Wash.

Over the years, Newton traveled back to Brookhaven two to three times a year to visit his family and friends. In 2001, after his wife Opal died he moved to Brookhaven. He looked up an old schoolmate and after a brief courtship married Exie Jackson.

Newton enjoyed gardening, woodworking and painting. The couple frequently drove across the country to visit his children and see parts of the country neither had experienced. He also had volunteered at the Veterans Memorial.

Newton is preceded in death by his parents, Richard Elias and Ruth Allgood-Newton, who were members of the founding families of Mississippi; his siblings, Richard Elias Newton Jr., Kathleen Driskill, Roscoe P. Newton, Marshall Grover Newton, Nora Bell West, Elsie Bowman, Ella Sandage, two sets of twins, a sister that died at birth, Robert Higdon Newton and Annie Ruth Newton.

He is survived by wife, Exie, Michael and Katherine Newton, Richard and Catherine Newton, Juanita and Matt Hickey, seven grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, stepdaughters Shreete Hall, Sally Maddox, and Rebecca Smith; niece, Pam Newton-Norton, and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

Newton attended Friendship First Baptist, and Macedonia Baptist churches. He also was a member of the Pleasanton Presbyterian Church and a member of the Livermore Presbyterian Church, where he served in a committee responsible for building the church where it stands today.

A visitation was held in Brookhaven June 17. Newton will receive military honors at Memory Gardens in Livermore on June 23, followed by a celebration of life from 1 to 3 p.m. at his son Richard's home at 4788 Cindy Court in Livermore, 925-449-3006. Messages of condolence may be posted on the Riverwood Family Website.