Obituary of Mayrelee F. Newman

Dr. Mayrelee Fallquist Newman, age 82, of Ray Brown Road, Boone, died Wednesday morning at Watauga Medical Center, Boone, NC. Born in Spokane, WA, on June 29, 1926 to Francis and Zoradell Fallquist. She was preceded in death by her husband, Willis Newman in 1962. Surviving are two daughters, Alice Newman of Los Alamos, NM and Kristine Bennett and husband, Brian of Los Alamos, NM and one son, Robert Newman and wife, Deborah of Charlottesville, Virginia and by one grandson, Charles Newman of Blacksburg, VA. Dr. Newman earned her bachelor of arts, with distinction, in English, from Washington State University in 1949 and a master's in library science in 1959. In 1969, she attended the Institute of Executive Development at the University of Washington and in 1975 received her doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Newman was an Education Policy fellow at George Washington University in Washington, DC in 1979-80 and a Fulbright scholar/lecture at Mansoura University, Egypt, in 1983. She began her career as assistant children's librarian at the King County Public Library in Seattle, WA in 1957. She accepted the position of juvenile, young adult, and extension librarian with the Washoe County Library in Reno, NV in 1958. From 1960-65 she served as summer faculty and visiting professor at the University of Nevada in Reno, NV, a position that overlapped her duties as staff and base librarian for the U.S. Air Force (SAC), Larson AFB in Moses Lake, WA and Malmstrom AFB in Springfield, MA. She was director of learning resources at El Centro College and planer for learning resources in the Dallas County Junior College district in Dallas, TX from 1966-69. Dr. Newman joined the faculty of Appalachian State University as an associate professor in College in 1969. She spent the summer of 1973 as a visiting lecturer at Washington State University, and in 1972-74 she acted as principal investigator and project director for Maximizing learning Opportunities in three counties of western North Carolina. In 1979, she took a one-year leave of absence from Appalachian to serve as program officer of the Fund of Improvement of Postsecondary Education 9FIPSE) for the United States Department of Education in Washington, DC . She retired as a professor emeriti of leadership and higher education in December 1989 and remained a resident of Boone, NC. Dr. Newman's areas of special interest included adult education, Scandinavian folk schools, continued improvement of teaching and learning, international education, occupational training, and literacy. Her special scholarly efforts included two visits to Scandinavia to research fold schools (1977 and 1986), seven weeks in Egypt studying adult technical schools and literacy training (1979), and two semesters as director of the Appalachian House in Washington, DC. A service to celebrate the life of Dr. Mayrelee Fallquist Newman will be held at 3:00 PM, Sunday, October 26 at 3:00 PM at Grace Lutheran Church officiated by Pastor Tim Smith. The family will receive friends after the services at Grace Lutheran Church. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the American Heart Association, PO Box 5216, Glen Allen, Virginia 23058-5216. On-line condolences may be made to the Newman family at www.austinandbarnesfuneralhome.com. Austin & Barnes Funeral Home and Crematory is serving the Newman family.