Francis Lanneau Newton

1928 - 2025

Francis Lanneau Newton

February 28, 1928 - February 14, 2025

Chapel Hill, North Carolina - Francis L. Newton died at Carol Woods Retirement Community in Chapel Hill, NC, surrounded by loving family members and a devoted care team. Right up until his death at 96, he remained deeply engaged with his family and his many friends, colleagues, and former students. Francis lost his beloved wife, Louise, in 2005. He is survived by son Frank and his wife Julia (Boiling Springs, NC), daughter Sophie Coulter (Hillsborough, NC), son Bill and his wife Sarah (Durham, NC), and daughter Mary Anna White (Norfolk, VA), and by grandchildren Abigail Sheriff (and her husband Greg), Jim Coulter (and his wife Candice), Louise Newton (and her partner Dan), Mary Anna Smith (and her husband Chuck), Lanny Newton, Danielle White, Nathaniel Putsis, and Rianne Troutman, and seven great-grandchildren. He is also survived by Rebecca Newton, the mother of Abigail and "Young Louise," and Bob Coulter, father of Jim Coulter and Mary Anna Smith. Mary Anna White's husband Rich died in 2018.

Francis was a professor of Latin and classical studies and a renowned scholar of South Italian manuscripts. He was born in 1928, second of three sons born to Minnie Mills and Paul Calvin Newton. He latched onto the classics at the age of 15 when he was rummaging through a cousin's attic in Wake Forest and found a copy of Plutarch's Lives of illustrious Greeks and Romans. Looking back on how he made his way in his chosen field, Francis always stressed the debt he owed to his mentors. As an undergraduate student at Wake Forest University he studied Virgil with Dr. Hubert Poteat. He wrote his PhD dissertation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under Dr. Berthold Ullman on aspects of Virgil's Aeneid. A well-remembered conversation with Dr. Ullman set in motion his lifelong interest in the study of medieval manuscripts.

Francis taught at Vanderbilt University (1953-1967) and Duke University (1967-1998) and served as professor emeritus at Duke until his death, at which time he still had scores of books checked out from the library. Francis believed strongly in the importance of the humanities as part of a well-rounded education, and in a teacher's ability to spark a young person's interest in language, poetry, and the arts as a means for them to live a richer life. He inspired many students with his courses on mythology and the Roman poets. Whether his students went on to careers in the classics or other fields, many of them kept up with Francis over the years.

Francis had a gift of engaging with young people of all ages. He kept a box of toys and books to amuse visiting children and grandchildren of his family and former students. Among the attractions were a copy of Plutarch's Lives and a plush toy snake stretching along the back of the sofa. His grandchildren remember with great fondness trips to the swimming pool with Granny and Granddad, and the tradition continued with great-grandchildren enjoying picnics and swims at Carol Woods. Francis and Louise moved to Carol Woods in 1999.

Everybody who knew Francis and Louise recognized that theirs was a marriage for the ages. Together they raised their children in Nashville, TN, and Durham, NC, and contributed to the raising of grandchildren. And Louise was the travel planner and Arabic specialist when Francis's interest in medieval manuscripts took the family overseas. He worked in libraries and monasteries from Ireland to Turkey, and, most importantly, the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino in Southern Italy. The family lived in Cassino for 7 months on his 1965 sabbatical, where he took a bus up the mountain to the abbey daily to pore over the treasures in the archives, or took the train to Rome to study in the Vatican Library. The family also spent a year in the French village of Léglantiers, and he took the train in to Paris to study at the National Library.

On a trip to Greece in 1985 Francis hiked around the rugged Athos Peninsula to visit Eastern Orthodox monasteries at Easter time. He got lost one afternoon and ended up taking shelter overnight with a hermit. For breakfast they shared one brightly painted Easter egg. Throughout his research career, Francis took joy in beholding and decoding the beautiful writing - the "hand" - of the monks who produced and preserved so many important classical and medieval texts. In 1999 Francis published his magnum opus, The Scriptorium and Library at Monte Cassino (1058-1105). In 2019 Francis received an honorary doctorate from the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio.

Francis had one gift in particular that stood out. Whether he was talking with staff or other residents at Carol Woods, or one of the many family members he kept up with near and wide, or fellow scholars at universities, monasteries, or libraries in the U.S., Canada, or Europe, each person felt that Francis was engaged with them at that moment, and that they had a special relationship with him. His family has heard this repeatedly over the years.

The Newton family extend their sincere gratitude to all the staff at Carol Woods, who took beautiful care of Francis. Their care in his last months allowed him to finish work on several journal articles and a project to translate a 600-page book in Latin on the Labors of Hercules. The staff at Carol Woods all knew about the project and nursed him through difficult times "so he could get back to his translating" in his assisted-living apartment. Francis finished the last pages of this work, writing longhand on yellow pads in a sunlit chair, a few weeks before his death. He died on Louise's birthday.

The funeral will be held Saturday, March 29, at 2 p.m. at Carol Woods Assembly Hall, 750 Weaver Dairy Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, with a reception onsite following the service. Flowers are welcome and may be sent to Carol Woods.