Dennis Newman

Dennis Newman of Red Wing, MN passed away June 15, 2026, at the age of 86. He was born on April 27, 1940, to Gunnard and Phyllis Newman in Elgin, Illinois. He had one brother Ronald who was five years older. Dennis loved to pester him by singing constantly. Dennis spent his childhood living in Crystal Lake, IL in a house his father had built. He had a pet rooster named Corney that would wait for him to get home from school by sitting on the front porch right next to the family dog. In his youth Dennis had a paper route and then played tennis and football in high school, but his favorite childhood memories were from the two weeks his family would spend each summer at Peterson’s Resort on Lost Lake near Hackensack, MN. There he would begin lifelong hobbies of fishing and the love of lake living in the woods.

After high school graduation Dennis attended Blackburn College where he played tennis, pursued a teaching degree, and fell in love with Julie who would become his wife on June 10, 1962, the day after his graduation. A year later they were blessed with a daughter, Linda and two years after that another one that they named Kathy. In the early days he was often asked if he wished that he had gotten a boy, but he always responded that he loved his girls.

Dennis spent his career teaching High School American History and Anthropology as well as coaching boys’ tennis. When his parents retired and moved to Hackensack, Dennis and Julie bought the house his dad built in Crystal Lake and raised their family there too. In 1975 Dennis and Julie started building the house of their dreams on Barnum Lake, which was only a few miles away from the resort that Dennis had loved going to as a child, and a few miles from his parents’ home on Kerr Lake. Dennis became a lifelong advocate for Barnum Lake water quality, catch and release fishing, and the preservation of the Chippewa forest land that bordered their property. Dennis loved puttering along in his fishing boat with a 5-horsepower motor, but he loved spending time in the woods even more. He knew every tree and every path. Dennis was an expert with his Stihl chainsaw. He heated their home exclusively with wood, so his full-time job after retirement was finding dead trees, cutting them up, splitting by hand with a maul, and hauling with his trusty wheelbarrow enough wood to keep mom warm all winter. Dennis loved the lakes and the outdoors but was always prepared and protected. If he was on, or in, the water, there was always a life jacket (even when he was swimming) and on land there was always a hat (preferably with a wide brim) and a flannel shirt with long pants. His legs never saw the light of day, but that way the deerflies and mosquitos didn’t get him either.

Dennis loved History, American and Roman, so his collections reflected that. He had a very extensive collection of Native American artifacts and Roman coins. He loved researching them and could tell you about every piece. While he enjoyed traveling, his heart was always at home on Barnum Lake.

Dennis was the sweetest most thoughtful man, who demonstrated to all those he cared about the meaning of loyalty, devotion and deep love. He valued the teachings of Marcus Aurelius and chose to follow his stoic philosophy including one of his meditations which said, “To live happily is an inward power of the soul.” Dennis lived by these words until his last breath by choosing to live happily. He never whined or complained and always tried to lighten the hard times with humor. Dennis was the king of nicknames, if you had never had one before, you would have one soon when you spent time with him, and he rarely limited it to just one. He loved to playfully tease and joke around with those he loved. If he gave you a hard time, you knew you were someone he cared about.

He also loved sitcom theme songs and product jingles. He was notorious for breaking out in song at home, in the boat, in the car…you mention a product and he would sing you the commercial. He would continue singing them until they were stuck in your head and you started singing them on your own for no logical reason…now you understand why his brother Ron was annoyed. 😊

Dennis loved fiercely, and the one he loved most was Julie. So as mom would always call out whenever we said goodbye, “Love you, Love you, Love you!” We miss you dad, and we always will.