James Lee Newman

A plaque in James Lee Newman's home proclaimed that there is a special place in heaven for the father of girls. He peacefully went to that place on Wednesday, July 27, 2011, while taking a nap. In his 90 years, he traveled to the far corners of the world, was issued more than a dozen patents for his inventions, had several successful careers and earned the respect and friendship of his fellow man. For him, life was an adventure and a perpetual quest for knowledge. None of his many adventures pleased him quite as much as his family. His favorite title, and the one that fit him best, was "Granddad." Born in West Baton Rouge Parish on Feb. 25, 1921, he was the only son of Lillian Lee and Fredrick Newman. His father died when he was 15. His mother was a longtime teacher in Baton Rouge. He grew up with a love of family, spending pleasant days with his Lee cousins and learning family history from his mother and her siblings. There were stories about his grandfather, Obadiah Moses Lee, a Confederate officer and educator, and about his fifth-great-uncle, Daniel Boone. Later, studying genealogy, he learned he had ancestors on both sides of the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Once, viewing the giant flag that flew over Fort McHenry that inspired the Star Spangled Banner, he commented that one of his ancestors likely saw that flag flying over Baltimore's harbor. He was a member of Louisiana's first Cub Scout troop and went on to earn his Eagle Scout award at a jamboree in Washington, D.C. Scouting fit in with his love of the outdoors. One of the earliest photos of him shows a young barefoot lad under an oversized straw hat fishing with a long cane pole. One of the last pictures of him shows him sitting in his back yard with his youngest great-grandson. Both of them have binoculars up to their eyes watching birds. He loved to hunt, but his real passion was fishing. On a trip to Virginia in 1976 to visit his newborn granddaughter, he returned to his then home in Beaumont, Texas, towing a 23-foot fishing boat. Aptly named the "Granddad," the boat is still in the family. He graduated from University High, LSU's lab school. He started studying petroleum engineering at LSU at 15 in 1936 and graduated in 1947 - taking time away for a war, a marriage and the birth of a couple of daughters. Leaving LSU in 1941, he went to California to work at an aircraft plant, but his heart was still in Louisiana, held tight by LSU coed Ethel Lormand, from Kinder. They had met at the Presbyterian Student Center. Soon they were married. The couple were happy in California, but there was a war on, and Newman joined the U.S. Army Air Forces. He became a lieutenant, instructing others in the use of bomb sights and automatic pilots, but never actually flying in an airplane. He later became a consulting engineer in the Dallas area, working on projects as varied as a method to read utility meters through cable television to weather balloon altimeters. In 1973, the couple moved to Beaumont, Texas, where Newman designed drilling equipment. Most of his patents were for oil drilling tools, but the ones he was proudest of were of an electric shrimp trawl he perfected in the 1960s. He served as a chapter president of the Sons of the American Revolution and was a longtime member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. He returned to Baton Rouge after his wife, Ethel, passed away. In 2008, he married Diamond Hammonds Wall, a widow who had been Ethel's high school and college friend. Newman was preceded in death by daughters, Judith Stewart and Mary Kathy Newman. He is survived by wife, Diamond Hammond Wall; daughter, Melanie Pitre and husband Holland, of Houma; son-in-law, Richard Stewart, of Richardson, Texas; stepdaughter, Viki Guillot, of Baton Rouge; stepsons, Ralph Wall Jr., of Florida and Jeffery Wall and wife Susan, of New Orleans; grandsons, Gannon Pitre, of Jackson, Miss., and Cody Stewart and wife Sarah, of Beaumont; granddaughter, Laura Eckert and husband Walter, of Los Angeles; stepgrandsons, Evan Wall and Cherif Guillot; stepgrandaughters, Ashley Walker and Heather Wall; great-granddaughter, Audrey Eckert; three great-grandsons, Kaden, Brandt and Cooper Stewart; stepgreat-granddaughter, Diamond Walker; and stepgreat-grandson, Justin Stanish. Visitation at Rabenhorst Funeral Home East, 11000 Florida Blvd., on Saturday, July 30, from noon until service at 2:30 p.m. Interment in Roselawn Memorial Park.