Robert Ray Newland's Obituary
Robert Ray Newland, 73, of Patriot, Ohio, passed away on Saturday, September 3, 2022 at his residence. He was born January 29, 1949 to the late Ray & Clara Bell Newland. He is survived by his wife Patricia Newland and daughter & son-in-law Noelle and Scott Horsfield.
Bob's daughter, Noelle, offers this remembrance of her Dad:
We lost my Dad Saturday, September 3, 2022. He managed living with type I diabetes for 60 years, but that day while he was at home alone with my mom, his blood sugar crashed and he laid down on his bed and never got back up.
The loss is as sudden and as powerful for my husband Scott and I as being deprived of air. He was a father and best friend to both of us and the three of us had become so inextricably linked in managing my mom's care as she navigated her way through Parkinson's Disease as it progressed into Lewy Body Dementia, that it felt like we were three parts of a whole. We all had our roles and we each knew how the others depended on us to do whatever we could to lighten the load.
My Dad was so many things to so many people and I have no words to describe how proud I have always been to call him mine. He was a 6'4" pipeline welder with a foul mouth and a heart the size of the moon; truly legendary in his field, he was the one they called when they needed a weld made on 24" pipe with gas flowing through it. He loved the work and I know it broke his heart when he had to retire early after the loss of both legs due to diabetic complications.
He taught me everything I know about hard work, standing my ground and making my own way. He fed the hummingbirds, pond turtles, fish, a barn cat that would only come to him and sang songs to his little dog Willie. He could fix or build anything and taught Scott enough of what he knew to give him the confidence to be that same way.
He loved an audience and always had a story for anyone who would listen and I hoped that he would tell stories in the shop one day after my Mom had passed and he could take time away from the farm. But nothing ever works out the way we've planned it. We prepare and we plan and we hope we've done the math correctly, but we never do. There's always an unknown number there waiting to trip us up. We have all been readying ourselves for the loss of my Mom but this loss is as deep and as sudden as having the very earth torn out from under us.
We hope that his many friends will understand that my Dad was a private person who did not care for the spectacle that sometimes surrounds memorial services. We have honored his wish to have his body cremated and his ashes will be spread around the farm and land that were so special to him.
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