A Memorial Celebration of Life for Robert Edward Newman, age 91, will be held this Saturday, July 8 at 3:00 p.m. at Neal’s funeral Home with doors opening at 2:00 p.m. with burial following at Tanglewood Cemetery near Versailles. Bob, formerly of Osgood, passed away at Ft. Pierce, Florida on December 27, 2016. He was born July 8, 1925 in West Virginia, the 8th child of the late Pearl S. and Laveda A. Logue Newman. Due to extenuating circumstances, when Bob was just one year old, Melvin and Beatrice Baird took Bob as their very own to raise and moved to St. Louis, Missouri. When he was around 13 years old, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio to be with his sister Norma.

At age 17, he joined the US Navy and served his country. After serving his country, he came back to his roots in West Virginia. There he met his wife, Virginia Mae Pittman and they were united in marriage on March 20, 1947 near Charleston, WV. They were blessed with four children. After a 57 year marriage, she preceded him in death October 25, 2005.

Bob embodied a true entrepreneurial spirit! In the beginning of their marriage, they moved to Detroit, MI where he started his own business as a building contractor along with working for Ford Motor Company. He was involved in many capacities of building from pouring concrete, electrical work, construction and sewer man holes. He steadily climbed the ladder in business when in 1959 he was given a contract in Speedway, IN to put in all the sewer work for Speedway Shopping Center. After purchasing a farm in Zionsville, IN, he built a horse barn and show arena and bought and sold horses.  Bob had a close friend who was involved in real estate by the name of Jim McMahon. He joined forces with Jim and successfully dealt in the real estate world!   Later, in the 1980’s, he and his son, Sidney were involved in the lumber business in Bridgeport, IN. Finally in 2001 he retired, and Bob and Virginia moved to Osgood.

Sadly after his wife's passing, he decided to live his life to the fullest and traveled to many places in the world always accompanied with a different family member. Some of those places included, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Panama Canal, Budapest, Hungary and a cruise on the Baltic Sea! His favorite of all was St. Petersburg, Russia. As a father, he tried to instill strong work ethics and values in his children, stating, "He wanted to teach them to be tough, because you don’t get nothing for free in this world!”

Survivors include sons: Melvin T. of Fort Pierce, FL, and Sidney E. (Pam) Newman of Wanamaker, IN; daughter, Joyce F. (Tom) Greene of Greencastle, IN. eight grandchildren, many great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren also survive. He was preceded in death by one daughter, Valerie Sue Benham in 2011 and his wife, Virginia in 2005; brothers, Elmer, Earl, Denver and Bill: sisters, Norma Ferrari, Meryl Kaatz and Beryl Hodges.

Neal’s Funeral Home entrusted with arrangements.

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