R.A. NEWELL DIES IN BURLINGTON. Passes Away in Hospital There This Morning -- Former Ogle Elevator Operator.
Richard A. Newell of Keithsburg, aged 76 years, passed away at 10:45 o'clock this morning in the Burlington hospital where he has been a patient since January 22. He suffered a fractured hip joint January 21, and was taken to the hospital and underwent an operation a few weeks later. Mr. Newell had been in frail health the past year and was unable to recover from the shock.
Mr. Newell, a son of Robert and Elizabeth Newell, was born on the Newell farm in Abington township Oct. 23, 1865. He attended the rural schools and Keithsburg high school and the Normal University at Normal. He taught for several years before engaging in business at Ogle, where he operated a general store and a grain market successfully for a number of years, later moving his business to Keithsburg where he was associated with the late Lester Dodson in the lumber and grain business for more than 15 years.
September 18, 1890, he was married to Miss Leah Ditto in Henderson county. They celebrated their golden wedding in 1940. They began housekeeping in Ogle but spent most of their married life in Keithsburg.
He was an active member of the Methodist church for many years and served efficiently as alderman in his ward for six years and was president of the school board for several terms. He was a member of the M.W.A. lodge. He was elected assessor and tax collector while living in Abington township.
He leaves his wife, two sons and a daughter, William and Robert Newell of California and Mrs. Magdalene Boland at home. A son Earl Newell died a few years ago. There are also four grandchildren and two brothers, O.E. Newell and William Newell of Keithsburg.
Funeral services will be held at 2 o'clock Sunday afternoon in the Methodist church in Keithsburg, with Rev. Prentiss C. Penticoff, officiating, assisted by Rev. Justin Washburn of Altona and Rev. Eddy McOmber of Aledo. Burieal will be in Greenmound cemetery.
Seaton Independent, November 13, 1952
WILLIAM M. NEWELL DIES OF HEART ATTACK, NOV 6.
Keithsburg relatives have recived word of the death of William M. Newell, who died of a heart attack at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, November 6, in a Veterans Hospital at Los Angeles, California. Funeral services and burial were at Los Angeles, Wednesday, November 12.
Mr. Newell was born at Keithsburg in Februray 1895, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Newell.
He graduated from the Keithsburg hight school in the class of 1912 and attended the University of michigan at Ann Arbor. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and served int he First World War. He has resided in Los Angeles for the past 25 years.
He is survived by a son, Richard A. Newell, a student at U.C.L.A.; a brother Robert Newell of Los Angeles and his mother Mrs. Mae Newell of Monmouth. His father and a brother Earl Newell and a sister Magdalene Newell preceded him in death.