Louis Maitland Newton

1927 - 2021

Louis Maitland Newton

May 3, 1927 - August 13, 2021

Louis M. Newton, 94, of Charlotte, North Carolina, formerly of Roanoke County, Virginia, passed away on Friday, August 13, 2021.

Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on May 3, 1927, he was a son of Hattie Maitland and Walter Louis Newton. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his brother, William George Newton.

After graduation from Chattanooga High School, Class of 1944, he served in the United States Army at the close of World War II and with the 88th Infantry Division as part of the occupation forces in Italy. He graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1949, with a degree in mechanical engineering.

His railroad service began with the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1950. In addition to Roanoke, he also worked in Bluefield, West Virginia; Portsmouth and Cleveland, Ohio; and Crewe, Virginia, before retiring in 1987 as assistant vice president - transportation planning for Norfolk Southern. In retirement he was a member of several railway historical organizations and had written four volumes of Rails Remembered, a book related to railway history.

He was a member of Raleigh Court Presbyterian Church, where he had served as an elder and a Sunday School teacher.

He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Sibyl Woodford Newton; daughters, Alice Newton Harris and husband, Bill, of Fayetteville, Georgia, Ellen Newton Auten and husband, Mark, of Mooresville, North Carolina, and Julia Newton Buie and husband, David, of Charlotte, North Carolina; granddaughters, Mary Ellen Auten Gillespie and husband, Brian, Laura Auten Christman and husband, Matt, Caroline Harris Thornton and husband, Stephen, Anne Buie Secrest and husband, John, Rebecca Auten, Elizabeth Buie, Charlotte Harris, and Sarah Harris; a grandson, William Buie; great-granddaughters, Madelyn and Amelia Christman, and Eleanor Thornton; a sister-in-law, Florence A. Newton of Palm Desert, California; two nieces; and two nephews.

A private burial will be held at Evergreen Burial Park. A Service of Witness to the Resurrection will be conducted at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, August 17, 2021, at Oakey's Roanoke Chapel, 318 West Church Avenue, Roanoke, Virginia. The family will receive friends following the service.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Rescue Mission of Roanoke, P.O. Box 11525, Roanoke, VA 24022. Online condolences may be shared with the family at www.oakeys.com.

"If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord." Romans 14:8.