LATA Members:
As we all know by now, longtime LATA member David Newlon sadly passed away on Friday. Following are remembrances from some of the people who knew him well.
From current LATA president James Carroll:
It is with great sadness we announce that David Newlon, an integral part of our LATA family, passed away on August 3, 2012.
David loved tennis. He joined LATA in January, 1989, and played Wednesday Team Tennis for 15 years and the Thursday Doubles League since its inception. In Palm Springs, David played 4-5 times a week. David’s contributions to LATA were above and beyond volunteerism. David capably served on the LATA Board for 7 years: 3 years as Publicity Director, 2 years as Secretary and 2 years as President (2007-2008). During his time on the board, David was instrumental in upgrading the club’s website — bringing us into the modern age. David re-organized the functioning of the volunteer board and clarified the roles and responsibilities. Along with Mitch Nutick, he researched the history of the club and presented the club with a History of LATA for the club’s 30th anniversary. David was also very proud of the many tennis camps he and a few other club members organized in Southern California (Santa Barbara and San Diego).
David was very generous with his time and his home. I remember fondly a huge LATA Holiday Party at his Nichols Canyon home. He also hosted board meetings and tournament banquets. David was soft-spoken, upbeat and had a cunning sense of humor. He had a big love for LATA, and told me last year at the Holiday Party that he would always make a special trip into LA from Palm Springs so as not to miss the party.
David is survived by a sister in Florida and countless friends from LATA and the gay tennis communities of Los Angeles and Palm Springs. We will send out additional details about a memorial service when those plans are finalized. There are many great pictures of David and friends on his Facebook page, and Indiana Jerry has posted a nice tribute to David on his Facebook page.
With deepest sympathy to David’s family and friends,
James Carroll, LATA President
From longtime board member Eric Dodson:
David’s contributions to LATA were and continue to be above and beyond volunteerism. Aside from serving on the Board for 5 consecutive years, David conceived, enabled and spearheaded the campaign to do the recent upgrade of the LATA website which enables us to do all our league scorekeeping on line and allows LATA to keep permanent, accurate records of past and present members, tennis statistics and activities–an enormous improvement to our club. He reorganized and streamlined the functioning of the LATA Board, striving to make serving as a Board member doable in a time when volunteers have no time. David also recognized, as our club reached its 30th anniversary during his years as President, the importance of documenting LATA history. He, along with Mitch Nutick, dug through years and years of Scores, photographs and documents to produce our comprehensive catalogue of LATA’s first thirty years, which we will have forever. But most of all David was an LATA veteran who played a lot of tennis. He was a regular on our doubles league for the last two decades, making him a special member of our Thursday night family. David was a soft-spoken generous man with ingenuity, vision, a cunning sense of humor, and a big love for LATA, and he will be missed.
From an anonymous contributor:
David Paul Newlon, of Los Angeles and Palm Springs, passed away August 3, 2012. David, a graduate of the University of San Diego, made his career in film production and film distribution but his true loves were his close friends, opening his home for entertaining and tennis.
David left this earthly plane on his own terms with his spiritual side at peace in the face of insurmountable financial difficulties. A good man with such a big heart did not have the heart to face this last challenge. His final home was in Palm Springs after living years in the Hollywood Hills.
David is survived by family members for whom he had loving memories, a circle of close friends in numerous cities and hundreds of acquaintances who will all miss him tremendously.
David’s attention to detail and obsession with friends and their well-being leaves an enormous void in the hearts of those he loved and those who loved and respected him. Please say a prayer for David and keep him in your thoughts when you wonder what the right thing to do is in difficult circumstances.
David’s joy and kindness to all he met should serve as a guide and inspiration to us all.
We will miss you our friend.
And in David’s own words….I’m just saying……
Ciao Bella!!!!!
I’m attaching a couple of photos of David below, but our social director Indiana Jerry has compiled a wonderful album of them on his Facebook page here. I’ll follow with any more remembrances I may get, as well as memorial information. If anyone reading this who knew David would like to write a tribute, I’d be happy to put it up.
— John Ramos, Score Editor
