Twila Newport

Twila R. Newport Twila Rose Newport of Neodesha, KS, died Thursday, April 03, 2008, at the Golden Keys Nursing Home. She was 80. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, April 8, 2008, at Penwell-Gabel Loran Fawcett Chapel. The Reverend Dave Cheshier will officiate. Interment will be in Neodesha Cemetery. Friends may call on Monday from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. The family will receive friends from 6-7 p.m. at the funeral home. The daughter of George and Sarah Baird Koeppen, she was born April 28, 1927, at Attica, KS. Her grandparents came to Kansas in a covered wagon and her German grandfather was a doctor in the Civil War. Twila lived in Attica for 10 years and in Thayer and Altoona for seven years where she attended school. She graduated from Altoona High School in 1945. She was united in marriage to Richard Cole in 1948. The couple operated the Bright Spot Caf before
orcing in 1952. She married John L. Newport on August 30, 1954, in Bartlesville. He preceded her in death in 1974. Twila worked for the McRea Telephone Company after graduating from high school and later for the 4-City Manufacturing Co. in Cherryvale for a year and a half. She was employed by Stevie-Togs Factory in Neodesha for 13 years and worked for Cobalt Boats as an upholsterer for 25 years, retiring in 2001. She later was an SEK Green Thumb employee at the W. A. Rankin Memorial Library. Survivors include one step-son, Jim Newport of Camdenton, MO; one step-daughter, Joy High of Wichita; three grandchildren, Gary Gottschalk II of Carrollton, TX, John Gottschalk of Clarksville, TN, and Jeffrey Gottschalk of Noorvick, AK; and eight great-grandchildren. In addition to her husband, she is preceded in death by her parents; one daughter, Melissa Gottschalk; one step-son, John Newport Jr.; two brothers, Ray and Jess Koeppen; and one sister, Gladys Maninger. Memorial contributions may be made to the W.A. Rankin Memorial Library and may be left at the funeral home.