<\/p>\n
IGNACIO \u2013 In an overflowing Sky Ute Casino Resort Events Center about 2,000 people gathered Friday to honor the short life of Jimmy Newton Jr.<\/p>\n
Newton, 37, had an 11-year career as a tribal council member, vice-chairman and chairman of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. Fondly referred to Friday as \u201cJimbo,\u201d \u201cBig Jim\u201d and \u201cBro,\u201d he will be remembered as a father, husband, son, nephew and friend, mourners said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe took his words very seriously,\u201d said James Olguin, vice-chairman of the tribe. \u201cHe took his actions very seriously. But children \u2013 that was his heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Newton died Monday at Mercy Regional Medical Center after a short illness.<\/p>\n
The memorial service was a mix of sadness at the unexpected death of a young man and laughter as those who gathered remembered the good times. The group Yellow Jacket, in which Newton had played, performed tribal drumming. Eddie Box Jr. and members of his family sang both Sioux and Ute songs.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would tend to get in a little trouble,\u201d his mother, Elaine Newton, said of her only child. She would discipline him, and he later thanked her and his father, Jimmy Newton Sr., for raising him to respect his family.<\/p>\n
As a little boy, Newton loved watching cartoons, particularly the \u201cIncredible Hulk,\u201d and he still had a collection of Hulk figures in his home, said Elaine Newton, as she showed one to the audience.<\/p>\n
Newton\u2019s daughter, Maylon Kaye Newton, read a poem she wrote for him called \u201cMy Daddy.\u201d<\/p>\n
While she grew up in Oklahoma with her mother, Maylon Newton came to Colorado every summer to spend time with her father and learn about Ute culture, Elaine Newton said.<\/p>\n
Living the Ute life was important for her childhood friend, said Beth Santistevan, who now works in public affairs for the tribe.<\/p>\n
\u201cFamily came first,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Newton also was caring and respectful toward his elders.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf not, his mom would have smacked him upside the head,\u201d Santistevan said.<\/p>\n
But along with taking care of his family, he also had time for his friends, she said.<\/p>\n
If you wanted a shoulder to lean on \u201cor to just listen to music and go for a ride, Big Jim was your man,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Newton knew the Southern Ute reservation well and could cross it from east to west without ever travelling on pavement, Santistevan said. He also loved sports and coaching and teaching children. His favorite teams were the Broncos, Oklahoma Sooners and Arizona State Sun Devils.<\/p>\n
Santistevan said Newton\u2019s favorite role was following a spiritual path.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loved the Creator,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Manuel Heart, chairman of the Ute Mountain Ute tribe, addressed the crowd in Ute, then switched to English.<\/p>\n
He said he knew Newton for 15 years and watching him grow from a young man into the leader of a tribe \u201cwas inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also honoring Newton were the chairman of the Northern Ute tribe, a representative of the Jicarilla Apache tribe, Colo. Rep. Mike McLachlan, as well as a Canadian Indian chief from Alberta. Tributes were read from the U.S. Senate and Congress.<\/p>\n
Colorado Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia spoke of his work with Newton on the state Council of Indian Affairs. Unlike the many friends who spoke, Garcia said he never called Newton \u201cBro.\u201d They were formal because they were both representing their governments, he said.<\/p>\n
When he first met Newton, Garcia remembered \u201chow small you suddenly feel,\u201d referring to Newton\u2019s towering height. But with Newton\u2019s easygoing nature and friendliness, \u201che made you feel, big, too,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n
Garcia presented the Newton family with a flag that had been flown over the state Capitol in Denver.<\/p>\n
Pathimi GoodTracks, a member of the Southern Ute tribal council, said the tribe\u2019s youngest chairman helped usher in a new age for the ancient culture by encouraging tribal members to communicate on the tribe\u2019s Facebook and web pages and encouraging the tribal councilors to use computers more frequently.<\/p>\n
He constantly texted his friends and people he knew around the country, she said.<\/p>\n
Many people attending the service remembered Newton had time for anyone.<\/p>\n
After the service, Elisha Thompson said when her young nephew and father died a short time apart, Newton would come by the gift shop where she works at Sky Ute Casino and ask how she and her mother were doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are wonderful people,\u201d Thompson said of Newton and his widow, Flora Murphy-Newton.<\/p>\n
Elaine Newton, a tribal judge, said she knew it wasn\u2019t always easy for her son to grow up with a chief judge for a mother. She also said she has learned since his death how much he meant to the community around him.<\/p>\n
Service to all of the members of the tribe \u2013 not just his friends and family \u2013 was important to him, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was not just my son,\u201d she said. \u201cHe belonged to all of you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Newton\u2019s funeral draws 2,000 to Ignacio<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[13,167],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-62181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-local-news-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62181"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=62181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}