Grover Newman: Cowboy Philosopher
Funeral was held Friday Aug 28 at 10:30 am
in St. Matthias Episcopal Church Athens TX.
Burial service followed later in Livingstone TX
Obit & funeral services by Hannigan Smith 
Sept 26 Memorial service, in Houston 

Get a book about Grover, by Dr. Bob Eckert

Quote from Grover, attributed to Cathleen Morris: "Well, I tried being a good man for a long time. Turned out I wasn't real skilled at it. I got kind of discouraged about that, so I prayed on for a few days. Finally, it just came to me. After that I just got up each morning and first thing asked the Lord to forgive me for things I'd messed up pretty badly the day before so I could start with a clean slate. Now that took awhile! After that I asked Him to give me a hint about about kindness and things I missed about other folks ~ just was blind to because I was distracted by stuff that, at the time, seemed really important. By then it was heading into lunch time, so I'd stop and thank Him for all the things in my life that I was truly grateful for ~ the pure grace and mercies I didn't in any way deserve.

By the time my list of thanks got finished and I added the people and situations that were on my heart, well it was close to dinner, and this old cowboy was grateful. I was also hungry and tired, so I'd eat, read a book, head on off to bed, say my night prayers and fall asleep in minutes ... After doing that every day for a couple of months, something else occurred to me. The new habits had changed my outlook and I was slowly growing into the man I had always hoped to be ..."

click any photo below to see it full-size

Grover liked the horse Bob Woodson was giving him at his Retirement party

Ladd Fields & Grover at Redeemer

John Farra & Grover at Yeldall

Nancy & Grover in Athens, TX

Photo provided by daughter Janis

Newman family 1972 move in Houston

Bill Farra, Graham Pulkingham, John Farra and Grover on Cumbrae Island

Households at Giddings Ranch

Nancy Newman in 2011: "Grover and I came to Redeemer from separate paths in 1964, I as a music teacher and Grover as a Methodist minister. We married in 1972. The Lord's call and the ensuing experiences have shaped our lives for the last 45 years. In the mid 60's a small band of people at Redeemer became very excited about the actual possibility that the Lord wanted to raise up a church like the one in the New Testament, a real Body of Christ. This was the Lord's sovereign move. We didn't just come together and think this was a good idea. The Lord spoke his will to this early band of followers. We had to follow Him and that required every bit of us. It was hard. I struggled in my soul. The Lord was faithful in the face of our sin. He raised up a church that was way beyond what any of us could envision. The love, the powerful praise and worship, the daily testimonies, the discipleship, the healings, the sacred lived in the down to earth acts of each day, the powerful Biblically based teaching was all God directed and yes, it was imperfect because we are imperfect.

We thank you, Lord Jesus, for the way you shaped our lives for glorifying Yourself, and yes for again and again calling us to the way of the Cross. One of my teachers at Redeemer said to me "You don't want that wooden cross with the nails and the splinters. You want one of those golden ones that hangs around your neck."

We thank you, Lord, for bringing alive the scriptures, a daily lamp for us. We thank you, Lord, for the move of your Holy Spirit that took us in strange ways, like ordering moving trucks for our move to Colorado before we had a place to live, for being prayed for at the church, all 45 of us and being sent out to "wherever God was leading us".

And Lord, we thank you for teaching Grover and me servant ministries as parts of the Body of Christ, Grover in pastoral, preaching, mechanical, logistical areas and me in worship and praise. I particularly am grateful for how the Lord taught musical leaders and followers to learn from each other. May He be forever glorified."