R.I.P. Paul Newhall

by Christopher Hodapp

NOTE: THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH FUNERAL INFORMATION BELOW

News has come that my friend and Brother Paul Newhall passed away in the early hours of Saturday. Paul's wife Georgia posted a message on her Facebook page yesterday with the news. And the Allied Masonic Degrees posted a special announcement yesterday morning.

I can’t recall actually meeting Paul and Georgia for the first time because they just always seemed to have been there. I encountered the Newhalls regularly when I started attending Masonic Week, back near the end of the old Hotel Washington days in the early 2000’s. Even then, Paul was one of those rare Brothers who was always the answer to seemingly every question that came up about the event: Got any problem? Ask Paul. He always knew how to shrewdly negotiate contracts, juggle complex logistical arrangements, plan meals, organize meal tickets and credentials, diplomatically settle battles, smooth ruffled feathers (and egos), and even assist short-handed hotel banquet chefs in madly dishing up plates in the kitchen while dressed in his tuxedo. All the while, he was simultaneously serving as an officer in multiple Masonic organizations. Everyone, everywhere, always seemed to want just a little bit of Paul’s attention. And everyone who asked for it, no matter how great or trivial the request, always got it.

When a bunch of us upstarts formed the Masonic Society in 2010 and we wanted to hold our dinner, annual meeting and elections at the host hotel that next February, Paul came to the rescue right from the very start. He managed to work us into a highly coveted time slot on Friday night with our own dining room, and for many years, a big suite in which we hosted a hospitality room.

As the years passed, Paul suffered a variety of health problems. Periodically, he would duck out of the Masonic Week activities in order to go track down a kidney dialysis center to treat his diabetes. In 2013, Paul's kidneys began to fail and he required a transplant to survive. And so, Georgia became his donor. Several years later, doctors were forced to amputate his foot. And yet, through those physical trials and tribulations, Paul remained cheerful, caring, and eternally optimistic. 

 

I have always taken to heart the concept that Masonry should be governed by those “who can best work or best agree,” as our ritual enjoins. In the two decades I have known Paul, he was always just such a man, even when he and Georgia were burdened personally by challenges that would have felled almost anyone else. Paul was dedicated, driven, organized, indefatigable, and responsible to a fault. And above all, honorable. Such people may seem to be in short supply these days, but they still exist, and I have to admit I've encountered more of them within our fraternity than anywhere else. My world has been a better place because Paul and Georgia have been in it. So it is with deepest sadness I offer my most heartfelt condolences to Paul's entire family. 

His column is broken and his brethren mourn.

Requiescat in pace.

UPDATED 2/23/2022 2:00AM

FUNERAL INFORMATION

The viewing and visitation for Paul Newhall will be held this Friday, February 25, 2022 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at:

Adams-Green Funeral Home and Crematory

721 Elden Street

Herndon, VA

The funeral, including Masonic Services, will begin at 6:30 p.m. Internment will take place in the spring in Chestnut Grove Cemetery, Herndon. Flowers will be received by Adams-Green. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in his memory may be directed to the National Kidney Foundation at www.kidney.org

His complete official obituary can be seen HERE.