A big influence on the new St. Michael's
Parishioners at St. Michael's Church in Wheaton dedicated their new church last year, four years after seeing their original one burn to the ground.
Among the parishioners to play a key role in the rebuilding process was Dolores (Lori) Newsham of Wheaton, a lifelong member. She served on its building and design committee, and on the art and environment subcommittee.
Ms. Newsham passed away Aug. 27 after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 61.
While family members and parishioners alike mourn her loss, they see her handiwork every time they worship at the church. The set of stained glass windows that feature the sacraments of initiation, healing and vocations all bear her imprint.
The Rev. Don McLaughlin, the church's pastor, said members all brought ideas to the committee about what the windows should feature, including highlighting patron saints of other Catholic churches in Wheaton, but these sacraments reflected Ms. Newsham's faith and her active role in the parish.
"She was a Wheaton fixture, you might say," McLaughlin says, "and she was involved in so many things here at St. Michael's, that she's going to be sorely missed."
Ms. Newsham grew up in Wheaton, as the second of 10 children and oldest daughter of A. James and Loretta Newsham.
"Being from a large Catholic family, whose parents were devoted Catholics, we all attended Catholic school," says her youngest sister, Christine Feldy of Pleasant Prairie, Wis. "Her faith reflected that upbringing."
Ms. Newsham attended St. Michael's School, St. Francis High School and Benedictine University in Lisle, where she pursued interests in theology and literature. Both would enhance her future career, as manager of the book department for Wheaton Religious Gift and Church Supplies for nearly 30 years.
Patricia Morrison, a former editor with the Joliet Explorer, the official newspaper of the Joliet Catholic Diocese, wrote a tribute to Ms. Newsham in last week's edition.
In it she says Ms. Newsham was well-known throughout the Joliet Diocese and Chicago area for her expert knowledge of the Catholic publishing market.
Church professionals, both clergy and lay, sought her expertise, Morrison says, as well as officials with the Christian Booksellers Association and Liturgy Training Publications in Chicago.
Family members add that while Ms. Newsham never married, her job and roles in her parish, as well as keeping up with her many nieces and nephews, were her life.
She also was an advocate of lifelong learning, earning a master's degree and later completing the diocese's pastoral leadership program, to better serve her church and especially new Catholics entering through the Rite of Christian Initiation.
"That's why she loved her job," Feldy says, "because she learned so much while helping others."
Besides her sister, Ms. Newsham is survived by her mother, and siblings: Don (Vicky) of Flagstaff, Ariz., Kathleen of Memphis, Mary (Joseph) LoMastro of Land O' Lakes, Wis., Ruth York of Dallas, Jacquelyn (James) Howard of Bloomingdale, James of Wheaton, Terrence (Victoria) of Mesa, Ariz., and Margaret (Michael) Evans of Batavia.
Services have been held.