Gertrude Ellen Newman

Private family services will be held to celebrate the life of Ellen Newman. 

Gertrude Ellen Newman was born on November 4, 1932 in Zuni, NM to George and Pearly (Cline) Gordon as one of eight children. She passed away surrounded by her family on September 26, 2024 at the age of 91.

After graduating from high school she married Donald Broyles. This union brought her two children, Donna and Donald “Sonny”. She later married Chester Jimison in Farmington,NM. This union brought her three daughters: Marilyn, Fay, and Alvina. In 1960, the family moved to Oklahoma where she began working as a telephone operator before working in the Nowata Clinic. It was while working in the clinic, she decided to pursue her nursing career, attending Jane Phillips Vo-Tech to get her LPN degree.

In 1970, the family returned to New Mexico where she worked as a nurse in the San Juan Hospital. After her husband’s death in 1972, she moved her children back to Oklahoma, settling in Chelsea. In December 1972, she married Bob Newman. They lived in the Chelsea area until his death in 1998. Ellen devoted over 40 years as a nurse before retiring in 2006 from the Colonial Care Center of Chelsea.

Ellen enjoyed spending time with her children, but was over the moon with her grandchildren. She also enjoyed finding a good bargain in the thrift stores, collecting porcelain bears, and sitting on the porch with her dogs enjoying her coffee.

She is preceded in death by her parents; three brothers and two sisters; husbands, Chester Jimison and Bob Newman; children, Donald “Sonny” Jimison and Marilyn Jimison; and great granddaughter, Elizabeth Boyles.

She is survived by her daughters: Donna Broyles, Fay Jimison and Alvina Jimison; sisters, Nelda Wade and Betty Williams; grandchildren: Bobby Lynn Sweet, Dewayne Sweet, Gene Jones, Clint Sweet, Danny Jones, Michael Waldrup, Allison Ramsey, and Melissa Boyles; 20 great grandchildren and many great-grandchildren.