Betty Newmann

Betty Newmann peacefully passed away in the early morning hours of July13, 2026. She was a long-time resident of the Elgin area. She was born at Hamilton Air Field in Marin County, California on April 10, 1947, to James Claude Ray and Wanda Faye Schneider of Austin, Texas. They were a military family and lived in Alaska, Puerto Rico, then Austin. She entered into Austin schools in 1960 at J. E. Pearce Junior High School and graduated from Stephen F. Austin High School in 1965. Upon graduation she attended Nixon Clay Business School then worked as a secretary. She married, had a son, then got a divorce.

In June 1975, she attended her ten-year high school class reunion. There she met Martin Newmann. Although they had attended the same schools in the same grades, they had never met each other until now. In 1975 they met in June, married on September 20, moved to the Elgin area in December, and made their home on Martin’s family land. There Martin adopted her son, Michael Robert, and they had two children, Matthew Louis and Christina Marie. All three graduated from Elgin High School. Betty was active in church at First United Methodist Church, and as a Girl Scout Leader and assistant Boy Scout Leader in a troop for the Church with Martin. Betty also worked in the family’s mechanical construction business until they closed it in the mid-1980s. She then went to work at the Texas Department of Public Health as a Public Health Technician assisting with maintaining the database for Adult Lead Exposure until 2003.

In 2004, Martin became a Local Pastor for The United Methodist Church. His intention was to spend the next six years in Seminary while continuing to work as an engineer. Someone else had other intentions. One Wednesday in July, the Austin District Superintendent called him to occupy the pulpit in Muldoon Methodist Church. The next Sunday started twelve years as pastor and Betty as Pastor’s wife. They didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye to their friends at the Elgin Church. In 2016 they retired from the Church so they could address Betty’s health problems. They started with her cancers, then went to his, then back to her many falls and the start of many strokes, each time healing back but not to the way she was before. It was a long slow downward trend until she was completely healed on July13.

She is preceded in death by her son, Michael. She is survived by her husband, Martin; her son Matthew of Elgin; her daughter Christina Hinchey and her husband Bruce of Greenville, Texas; and four grandchildren: Aidan Newmann, Eamon Hinchey, Autumn Hinchey, and Riley Hinchey.

Visitation will be held Friday, July 24 from 1-2pm at Elgin Funeral Home with the Memorial Service beginning at 2pm. Betty will be laid to rest at Youngs Prairie Cemetery following the service.