Newman Stanley, a resident at Morning Pointe of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Assisted Living, has always loved mechanics. His career has spanned service in the Air Force, as well as engineer work on the Gemini program, founding of his own engineering company and patenting a way to build storm-safe structures.
Early Life and Air Force Service
Newman was born on April 6, 1933, in Ashe, North Carolina. His parents, John and Mary Stanley, had a farm, primarily raising tobacco, but also corn, soybeans and peanuts. Newman had two brothers, two sisters, and lots of responsibilities.
As he finished high school, Newman knew that the military would provide the opportunity for a college education. He enlisted in 1951.
“Well, I like airplanes, so I joined the Air Force,” Newman said.
Newman did his training at Brookley Air Force Base in Mobile, Alabama, then served four years as an airplane mechanic. He serviced the planes and helped move equipment as part of Military Transport Services. “I was in aircraft maintenance, and I inspected the airplanes. We had mostly C-124 big cargo planes. We hauled stuff all over.”
Newman mostly served in the United States but also traveled overseas as needed to support the aircraft. His very favorite assignment was the Azores, islands in the North Atlantic Ocean governed by Portugal.
“I enjoyed all of it,” Newman shared about that time. “It was nothing but grand. We had great crews, and we all moved together. The Portuguese were very nice people, and I made some great friends there.”
Back in Mobile, Newman met a lovely young lady named Christine at a YWCA dance. She was working as a secretary for the military base.
“I thought she was beautiful,” Newman said. “She was an attractive blond. We wound up getting married.”
The Stanleys wed on New Year’s Eve 1954. They went on to have two daughters, Lisa (Slater) and Rhonda (Ramage).
Education and the Gemini Project
Newman discharged from the Air Force in 1955 as a Sergeant and earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1961. In 1963, he went on to work for McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis, which became involved in the space race.
“We designed and built the Gemini spacecraft, from concept through the building of it and the duration of the project,” Newman said.
The Gemini project at NASA was the follow-up to the Mercury project and precursor to the Apollo missions. During the Gemini years (1961-1966), the first American spacewalk took place, and the team laid the groundwork for landing on the moon.
“I designed a lot of the test equipment for the spacecraft, and that was one of the toughest jobs in that project,” Newman remembered. “We had a lot of work we had to do on the testing program. The big thing was the space chamber test, and designing the equipment to support that. It took years of work to do all that. We had to test everything because we hadn’t done any of that before – it was all brand new to all of us.”
The vehicles launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Newman was able to be there in person for three or four launches.
“That was a chore, getting everything ready for launch, because there were so many items and so many pieces of equipment,” Newman said about the pre-launch preparations. “It was quite a challenge, but I enjoyed all of it.”
Mechanical Engineering Career Continued
After McDonnell Douglas, Newman worked as a mechanical engineer for several other companies. One was Bendix Corporation in Iowa, and there he continued to support NASA, this time in designing and making equipment for the space program.
After Bendix, Newman worked engineering jobs in Orangeburg, South Carolina, as well as Tallahassee and Jacksonville, Florida, and Woodbine, Georgia.
When he worked in Woodbine, Newman flew his single-engine plane in from his home in Fernandina Beach, Florida, on nice days. He loved being a licensed pilot, joining flying clubs and even rebuilding an entire plane engine.
Finally, in his 50s, Newman started his own engineering company, Stanley Engineering, in Jacksonville. He offered his engineering services in a wide variety of applications, both simple and complex. From HVAC to home inspections, working on submarines to signing off on architectural blueprints. Christine took care of the bookkeeping and secretarial end of his business, so it was truly a family operation.
Newman has always had an interest in improving things. One day, he saw TV coverage of buildings leveled by a tornado and took that as a personal challenge. He decided to develop a patent for building storm-safe buildings that could withstand 200-mph winds and that could be built without too much expense. After much designing, planning, and testing in wind tunnels, he achieved his goal and was granted his patent.
One other highlight of his time in Jacksonville was helping out with a Billy Graham crusade. A man of faith, Newman taught Sunday school for years.
Coming to Morning Pointe
As the Stanleys got older, Christine started needing care. They moved into an assisted living community in Florida near their daughter Lisa. After Christine passed away in June 2022, Lisa’s family and Newman decided to move to Tennessee.
Newman and his family visited and researched different assisted living communities, deciding on Morning Pointe of Chattanooga.
“It just checked all the boxes,” Lisa said. “The staff are great.”
Newman shared, “I like being here. There are a lot of nice people here, and I have made a lot of nice friends.”
As he looks back on his accomplishments in life, Newman said he is most proud of his contributions to engineering, as well as his 68-year marriage and his two daughters.
Newman, thank you for your contributions in your field and through your family. We are privileged that you chose to be part of our Morning Pointe family.
