{"id":33306,"date":"2021-02-27T00:01:04","date_gmt":"2021-02-27T08:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=33306"},"modified":"2021-02-27T00:01:04","modified_gmt":"2021-02-27T08:01:04","slug":"jonathan-newhall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/jonathan-newhall\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Newhall. My Husband of Forty-Four Years"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"jonathan-newhall-obit\"<\/a>
Jon was the cook in the family.\u00a0 Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0Dear family, friends and readers. I am so sad to have to tell you that my dear husband of forty-four years, Jonathan Newhall, died last week. Here is a copy of his obituary.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Jonathan Newhall, a former editor of The Newhall Signal in Southern California and the founder of the scrappy alternative national news source Zodiac News Service, died unexpectedly on Friday, February 19, 2021, in Oakland, California, following a stroke and cardiac arrest. He was 79.<\/p>\n

Jon was born in 1941 in Palo Alto, California. He grew up in Berkeley where he attended Hillside Elementary and Garfield Junior High School. He graduated from Cate School in Carpinteria in 1959 and was a lifelong supporter of the school, organizing fundraising and class reunions.<\/p>\n

Jon was a member of the Stanford University class of 1963. He took a year off after his freshman year to experience working \u201cin the real world,\u201d as he put it. He graduated with a B.A. in economics in 1964.<\/p>\n

A Renegade in Small Town Southern California<\/strong><\/h5>\n

After graduation, Jon moved to Newhall, California, a town founded in 1876 by his great-great-grandfather, the gold rush pioneer Henry Mayo Newhall. Jon joined the staff of The Newhall Signal, a weekly newspaper<\/a> owned by his parents, Scott and Ruth Newhall.<\/p>\n

Jon worked as general manager of the paper from 1964 to 1968, and then as editor.\u00a0During his tenure at The Signal, the paper\u2019s liberal editorial stance made it a renegade in the conservative Newhall-Saugus community. Jon won an award from the Greater Los Angeles Press Club for his 1969 editorial criticizing Gov. Ronald Reagan\u2019s appointment of Ed Reinicke as lieutenant governor of California. Later, the Signal took the lead in a contentious school board recall election \u2013 which voters strongly approved.<\/p>\n

\"jonathan<\/a>
Jonathan Newhall before I met him — when he was editor at a small town paper in the 1960s. Newhall Signal photo.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shortly thereafter, in a different issue, Jon wrote an editorial for The Signal calling for the resignation of the local congressman.\u00a0The editorial went on to win the Greater Los Angeles Press Club\u2019s top award for a newspaper editorial that year. Ironically, the guest host presenting the award at the press club banquet was the embattled congressman himself.<\/p>\n

Jon moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1970 and was an editor at Earth News Service, an alternative news service in San Francisco. It was there that he met Barbara Falconer. The couple married in March 1977 and settled in Oakland.<\/p>\n

Jon Goes Into Business for Himself<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1972, Jon formed his own alternative news service<\/a>, Zodiac News Service, which produced daily packets of anti-Vietnam War, civil rights, environment, and rock \u2019n\u2019 roll news \u2013 also man-bites-dog items that Jon like to call \u201cbizarros.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Zodiac staff printed the packets in their office on Howard Street in the then low-rent, south-of-market area of San Francisco. Monday through Friday, the packets were stuffed into envelopes and driven to the post office for delivery to subscribers.<\/p>\n

\"jonathan<\/a>
A Zodiac News Service office party. At center: Staffer Marlene Edmonds with Jonathan Newhall, Barbara Falconer and their hip, 1970s guests. Jon Newhall photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jon\u2019s mission was to provide reliable news, produced according to journalistic ethics and standards, to outlets seeking sources of news not reported in the mainstream media. Subscribers included FM and college radio stations, newspapers, and alternative weeklies all over the United States and Canada. At its height, Zodiac News Service was carried by hundreds of news outlets.<\/p>\n

A Bold Mid-life Career Switch<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fascinated by the emerging computer industry, Jon eventually sold Zodiac and — now in his 40s — taught himself to write code. He began with simple, animated educational games for John Boeshon & Company in Richmond, California, where he functioned as a one-man band, generating concept and graphics as well as code.<\/p>\n

He soon went on to more sophisticated projects as a software engineer and project manager at a series of Bay Area companies: Computer Logics in San Rafael; Simborg Systems \u2013 later Oacis Healthcare Systems and SAIC \u2013 in San Rafael; and GLR Consulting Company in Alameda.<\/p>\n

\"jon-newhall-at-desk\"<\/a>
Jon Newhall at his desk in 2015, probably working on his thriller novel. Note the cat wallpaper on his screen and the celestial photo on the wall. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though he was a latecomer to the field, Jon\u2019s young tech colleagues found him to be a gifted engineer and manager. He could debug the internals of Microsoft Windows code with the best engineers in the field.<\/p>\n

While managing a workstation team, Jon carpooled with other staff from the East Bay to Marin county. The rides engendered many complex, cross-functional conversations \u2013 often led by the gregarious, open-minded Jon \u2013 that in turn led to significant architectural advances in the company\u2019s product line.<\/p>\n

After retiring, Jon devoted his time to his family and to his writing. Just weeks before his death, he completed his most recent novel, a political thriller, which his family hopes to publish soon.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Newhall — Community Service<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Wherever he went, Jon found ways to serve his community. In 1967 he helped organize what has become known as the Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club. The hugely successful club recently celebrated its 53rd anniversary.<\/p>\n

Beginning in the mid-1980s, Jon served as a director of the family-based Henry Mayo Newhall Foundation and was the foundation\u2019s president from 2003 to 2007. He oversaw annual contributions of $600,000 in grants to charities across California, including $200,000 to organizations in the Santa Clarita Valley.<\/p>\n

Over the years, Jon\u2019s lifelong affection for cats, dogs and other animals led him to support local animal shelters. Most recently he took an interest in the Friends of Oakland Public School Libraries and its efforts to create a digital library for Oakland schoolchildren.<\/p>\n

Family, Friends, Chess — and the Giants<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jon enjoyed planning trips abroad with Barbara — to Mexico, Europe and China. Closer to home, he especially enjoyed reunions with the Newhall and Falconer families as well as his Cate School classmates.<\/p>\n

\"jonathan-newhall-amsterdam\"<\/a>
Traveling Jon — in Amsterdam in 2015. Photo by Barbara Newhal<\/em>l<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jon was a long-time fan of the San Francisco Giants, cheering them on at Seals Stadium in the 1950s, at Candlestick in the 1960s through 1990s, and most recently at Oracle Park.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>He was also an avid chess player, learning under the tutelage of Grandmaster George Koltanowski. He played alongside numerous Newhall family chess players \u2013 including his then 87-year-old mother \u2013<\/em><\/strong> at such tournaments as the U.S. Open in Hawaii and the National Chess Open in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Left Behind<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Jon is survived by his wife of 44 years, Barbara Falconer Newhall, and by his children, Peter Newhall (Emily) of Minneapolis, and Christina Newhall (Tim Beedle) of Studio City, and by his granddaughters, Zelda Newhall and Eliza Newhall of Minneapolis. Also by his brother Skip Newhall (Lori) and his twin brother Tony Newhall (Reena), both of Valencia and by many loving cousins, nieces and nephews.<\/p>\n

He was predeceased by his parents, Scott and Ruth Newhall of Piru, and by a sister, Penny Newhall.<\/p>\n

No memorial service is planned as yet. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to East Bay SPCA or to the Friends of the Oakland Public School Libraries.<\/p>\n

Dear Readers. Right now I am not at all sure how much writing and posting I will be able to do from here on in. Jon is the one who made so much possible for me. But . . . sometimes sitting down to write is just the thing to help a person through times like this. We’ll see. Meanwhile, daughter Christina and her husband, along with some amazing neighbors, are looking after me.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Jon-newhall-guido-reni-getty\"<\/a>
The great thing about Jon, one of them, is that he didn’t mind me photographing him any more than he minded me writing about him. This is one of my favorite images of Jon — contemplating the divine in the form of Guido Reni’s “Christ with Crown of Thorns” at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"jonathan-newhall-obit\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Friends and readers. I am so sad to report that my dear husband of 44 years, Jonathan Newhall, died last week. Here is his obituary. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,13,14],"tags":[2447,2448,2449,2450,2451,2452,517,518,2453,2078],"class_list":["post-33306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-changing-family","category-my-rocky-spiritual-journey","category-widowed","tag-cate-school","tag-death-of-a-husband","tag-earth-news-service","tag-henry-mayo-newhall","tag-jonathan-newhall-obituary","tag-newhall-california-signal","tag-ruth-newhall","tag-scott-newhall","tag-simborg-systems","tag-zodiac-news-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}