Mary Jane Newton

Published 8:22 am Monday, April 2, 2018

February 17, 1919 – March 20, 2018

Mary Jane Newton passed away on March 20, 2018, at the age of 99, in the presence of her family. She was born in Nebraska City, Nebraska, on February 17, 1919, the middle of the three daughters of Robert Wellman Kregel and Ann (Kerrick) Kregel. She spent the first years of her life in Nebraska City, surrounded by her close extended family. At age 13, she moved to Kansas City, Missouri, with her mother and two sisters. She attended Kansas City Junior College and the University of Missouri at Kansas City. There she met her future husband, Dwight Bennett Newton, and they were married on January 29, 1941.

Mary Jane and Dwight first came to Bend in May 1943, during WWII, when Dwight was stationed at Camp Abbott, the future location of Sunriver Resort. They fell in love with Central Oregon and after the war and a few brief years in Missouri and California, they returned to Bend. They purchased their house on NW Kansas Avenue 65 years ago. 1957 found them back in Southern California, where Dwight was hired to write scripts for TV Westerns, but in 1965, they returned to Bend for good, moving back into the home they had rented in their absence.

Although she prided herself as a homemaker and loved spending time tending her garden full of flowers, she was also very active in her community. She was a member of the Geology Club, as well as the League of Women Voters and served two terms on the park board. In 1974, after learning that geothermal developers had their eye on Newberry Crater and had several applications to drill experimental wells there, she thought “… a place of so much natural beauty and geological interest being devastated with no real certainty that a compensating energy source would result from it, was to me appalling…” She spearheaded a committee of “Concerned Citizens for Newberry Crater,” which eventually led to the establishment of the Newberry Crater National Monument, an accomplishment of which she was immensely proud.

In 2009, a small “pocket park” was installed at the intersection of Kansas Avenue, Lava Road and Georgia Avenue, one-half block from her home. In search for a name that added to the historical nature of the area, it was suggested to name the park after one of its oldest and longest residents. At one tenth of an acre, Mary Jane’s Park is one of the smallest, but most charming parks in Bend. On June 30, 2013, her husband Dwight, passed away at age 97. They had been married for 72 years. She continued to live independently in her home until December, 2016, when she moved into Regency Village at Bend, where she remained until her death.

She is survived by her daughters, Jennifer Kirkpatrick of Crooked River Ranch; and Janet Schutte of Bend; grandsons, Jason Houk of Ashland; Mark Houk of Portland; and granddaughter, Michelle Addy of La Pine; as well as three great-granddaughters, Sierra, Maddison and Gracie. Following her cremation, she will be interred in the Tumalo Pioneer Cemetery, next to her husband and near other family members, during a private family gathering. At her request, there will be no public service.