My Father Was A “Newel”

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12, The Fifth Commandment

I resonate with songwriter Dan Fogelberg’s line from his tribute to his late father, “The Leader of the Band,” that said, “his gentle means of sculpting souls took me years to understand.” It has been years after my dad’s passing in 2017 that I even understood the significance of his name, “Newell,” and how it symbolized his lasting multi-generational influence upon me and many others.

He passed on his name to me, as my middle name. For years all I knew that he was named after the doctor who delivered him. And for me it was a kind of an odd middle name that I had that came out only after I had done something as in, “James Newell, you get over here right now” or later as an adult, when I had to fill out a legal document that required the use of a middle name.

But now I realize that a newel (with one “l”) means “a post that supports a handrail at the bottom or at the landing of a staircase.” Okay. So what? I will return to this later.

My father accomplished many things in his 93 years that were quite amazing. Before I was even born, he had been a decorated Marine dive bomber pilot in the Philippines, flying some 75 combat missions during World War 2. He was also recalled to the service and shot down in Korea in January of 1953. I was born in 1954. Many will remember him for being the co-founder of a national Restaurant chain, Sambo’s Restaurants, or later owning PuuWaaWaa Ranch in Hawaii. But these things over time fade into memory. His real lasting impact is hidden within the meaning of his name.

Last Sunday evening on Father’s Day my daughter, Heidi, organized a Facetime call with her siblings, Adam, Jeremy and Holly. During the call I was struck by how proud I was of each of them. Each one of them is unique in talents and gifts, but they all shared common character qualities of courage, creativity, diligence, perseverance, and love for family. And none of them are clones of me just as I wasn’t in a lot of way like my dad.

Now back to the meaning of “newel.” My father’s legacy was like that solid wooden post at the bottom of the stairs for many people who needed something solid to grab a hold of. His presence in their lives helped them begin the upward journey to provide for themselves and their families. (Not coincidentally, his father did that very thing for him and his three brothers!) He was created a starting point for many to learn, including me, the significance of work in taking positive steps forward in life.

Like my dad, I have wanted to be one to help others, including my children, progress up their lives’ stairs and specially to experience the importance of knowing Christ personally. I pray for my adult children that they would be “newels” to others in their own unique ways. Fogelberg’s lyrics of “his gentle way of sculpting souls took me years to understand” were followed by “my life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man, I’m just a living legacy to The Leader of the Band.” Thank you, Dad, you were truly one of a kind! Thank you for being a newel to me, and to your grandchildren. And they are now being newels to others. Like me, you would be very proud!