According to Bart Newell, "Military brats
look normal, extroverted, and independent on the outside but are
'mixed up' on the inside." This may explain why Bart, himself a
"military brat,"
(his father was in the Army until Bart was ten) has led a rather
adventuresome and fearless life. He suspects that being an
"only
child" could be an added factor. From 1962
until 1966, Bart attended Colgate University in Hamilton, New
York (AB with honors in biology). At Colgate, he was a 440
runner on the track team, won "a bunch of medals" at meets up
and down the East Coast, and was captain of the indoor track
team in his senior year. Bart says he struggled academically. He
could memorize what was needed in high school, but that didn't
work in college. He almost flunked calculus. He says one year of
that and two of chemistry, and all he can do now is make coffee. He then attended medical school at the
Chicago Campus of Northwestern University where he was a member
of the University of Chicago Track Club. At Colgate, Bart ran
track nine months of the year and didn't drink or party. He
shares that the "release phenomenon" hit him on Northwestern's
Michigan Avenue campus, and his life became entwined with "party
central." A concerned professor of surgery secretly called
Bart's father about two weeks prior to Thanksgiving break to say
that he thought Bart was having too much fun. While he was home
for the break, Bart got a talking-to from his dad and
subsequently made it through medical school. From 1970 to 1974, Bart found himself at the
University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver where he
completed a combined residency in clinical and anatomic
pathology. He describes this as one of the best times of his
life. He was making money for the first time, and he was in
Denver where the bulk of the population was from 25 to 30 years
old. There he took up backpacking, rock climbing, sailplaning,
and riding motorcycles. That Bart was trying to kill himself
became the family joke. While in
Denver, he joined the Navy Reserve. During those years
(1970-1974), he was able to spend time in San Diego before being
sent to Philadelphia for two years of active duty (1974-1976). Fortunately for Bart, the Philadelphia Naval Hospital where he
worked was across the street from the Philadelphia Flyers' arena
and the Phillies' and Eagles' stadiums. The Flyers won the
Stanley cup twice while Bart was there. Walking across the
street to watch hockey, baseball, and football was great. While he was
at Northwestern, Bart's mother set him up with Susan Powell,
four years his junior and an undergrad at Northwestern's
Evanston campus. Susan followed Bart to Denver and earned her
master's degree at the University of Denver. In 1971, after four
years of dating, they were married. When Bart left the Navy, they moved to Manassas, Virginia where he was a circuit rider for a big pathology group in Fairfax. He was a morning pathologist in Warrenton and Culpeper, then went on to Fairfax and the Northern Virginia Pathology Laboratory. To do this, he drove 500 miles a week, split into twenty to thirty-mile segments, but the drives afforded relaxation between hospitals. (No cell phones!) In September 1978, Bart's
first daughter, Anne, was born. A month later, he moved his family to
Akron, Ohio. Bart liked the Akron area, and accepted the position of
service chief of clinical pathology at Akron General Medical Center. His
second daughter, Sarah, was born in 1981 at that hospital. In 1984, Bart's
marriage to Susan ended. Later that year, he married Barbara, a laboratory
technician and model from Warren, Ohio, and they moved to the Mid Hudson Valley,
New York, where he was again a circuit rider, this time in the
Rhinebeck-Poughkeepsie Area. Bart
subsequently adopted Barbara's three sons, creating a Brady Bunch-like family
with those three boys and his two girls. In 1972, Bart's father, an Army surgeon, and his mother, a
Red Cross volunteer, moved from Rock Island to High Point, North Carolina where
the senior Dr. Newell worked in an ER until age 70. Bart visited them over
long weekends while he was in the Navy and always hoped to return to Virginia or
North Carolina. That opportunity came in 1987, although two weeks passed
before he could tell his wife about it because she was just "getting settled" in
Rhinebeck. However, Barb encouraged him to interview for the position in
New Bern, North Carolina. They moved to New Bern in June 1987.
Although he thought he was going to a "sleepy" 200-bed hospital, Bart's first
workday there lasted from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. He realized, as the only
pathologist, he was doing most of the work and wondered what he had gotten
himself into. Today, there are three pathologists at this now 350-bed
hospital, and Bart is the laboratory director. He says, "For years, I
wanted to be the 'chief.' Now I've decided I would like to be an 'indian'
again!" In June, he will have been there for 24 years and is still
working a 50-hour week on average. He's usually at work from 7 a.m. to 6
p.m. and is on call every third weekend. Bart and Barb's oldest son,
Josh, attended UNC-CH and NC Central University School of Law. Josh is a
vice president in the legal section for Bank of America and has three- and
six-year-old sons. Their middle son, Adam, entered the Navy twelve years
ago after high school and is currently a Navy SEAL Corpsman. Adam is
married and the father of a boy and girl. Son number three, Danny, is a
Hollywood film editor, single with no children. Older daughter Anne
attended UNC-CH and NC State veterinary school and is a research vet at the
University of Illinois. Anne is married with no children yet.
Younger daughter Sarah attended Appalachian State University and is a newspaper
editor in Hickory, North Carolina. She and her husband have no children
yet. When asked about pastimes
and hobbies, Bart said he used to have many varied interests but is "kind of
getting burned out." Prior to a knee replacement, he often played tennis.
Now he works out at Gold's Gym and swims. He and Barb have three cats and
two dogs and help animal shelters with pet rescue. Bart says he would like
to take all the animals home. He likes comedy shows and movies, and they
used to take their kids to the movies on Fridays. He has a large
collection of books on Marilyn Monroe. Bart has a commercial instrument
pilot's license with a seaplane rating and flew from 1963 until 1995 but stopped
when he had three kids in college. He rode motorcycles from 1971 to 2000,
but that ended when he began to think he wouldn't be able to "pick up 350 pounds
if I flopped." But he adds he never had to lay one down. Every October, Bart and
Barb like to make an annual trip around the Caribbean. They've been to
England several times for vacations and Bart's continuing education. They're
drawn to the West Coast to visit Barb's mother and sister and two of their sons.
Because federal and state laws require Bart to attend educational programs, they
take advantage of programs in desirable venues. This year, they hope to go
to Las Vegas. Since Barb was diagnosed with MS in 1998, they've cut back
on traveling and have added a swimming pool to their home for her therapy. Because Bart's father was a
surgeon and also in general practice, friends occasionally inquire about him.
Bart shares that his dad passed away in 1992 from a post-surgery heart attack,
and he lost his mother in 1998 from respiratory failure. When asked about high school friends and memories, Bart
responded that he thinks he covered that pretty well in this web site's
"Classmate Updates" section. He plans to go to the 50th reunion. He
saved copies of the RIHS student newspaper from September 1959 to May 1962 and
had them bound. He thinks he has nearly every copy and will offer to
donate them to the school after he takes them to the 50th reunion. Bart welcomes notes from
friends and classmates at
RNewell@carolinaeasthealth.com. |
