Blossom Lorraine Knop Newell

Blossom Lorraine Knop Newell, 95, died Friday, June 22, 2018, in Canadian. She had been a resident of Mesa View Assisted Living in Canadian since February 2016.

Memorial services will be 11:00 AM Monday, July 2, 2018, at First Presbyterian Church of Canadian, with Rev. Travis Allen and Rev. Sydne Allen, co-pastors, officiating. Cremation and arrangements are under the direction of Carmichael-Whatley Funeral Directors of Canadian.

Blossom was born April 6, 1923 to Leo John Knop and Mildred Fern Stewart Knop, on the family farm in Pratt County near Preston, Kansas. She was the oldest of six children. Her siblings were George, Caroline, William, Marilyn and Vivian.

She attended St. Paul Lutheran School in Nutrona, Kansas, from 1^st through the 8^th grade. She was also a baptized member of St. Paul Lutheran Church. She graduated from Preston High School in Preston, Kansas, in 1940. She attended Pratt Community College prior to attending and graduating from St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing in Wichita, Kansas, with a Registered Nursing degree in 1944. She was employed as a Registered Nurse in Pratt, Kansas, Perryton, Texas, Amarillo Texas, and Canadian, Texas.

In 1947, while working in the Pediatrics Unit of Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo, Blossom was introduced to her future husband, Raymond E. Newell of Canadian and they were married August 3, 1947, at a Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas. She was employed by Hemphill County Hospital from 1947-1980. The couple lived out their entire married life in Canadian.

Throughout her life, Blossom was a woman of service in many different ways.   She served as director of Sunday school and an Elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Canadian. She was the Edward Abraham Memorial Home Interim-Administer and long-time board member. At Hemphill County Hospital, she was a staff and charge nurse, Interim Administrator, and member of the Board of Directors. She was a volunteer at the River Valley Pioneer Museum, and many other community activities.   Blossom was voted “Canadian’s Women of the Year” by the Canadian-Hemphill County Chamber of Commerce.

Blossom was known by many for the beautiful quilts she made. Quilting filled most of the daylight hours of her retired years.

Blossom and Raymond had one child, Georgia Ann, in February 1949. The Reverend Georgia Ann Newell King currently lives in Canadian, Texas. She was grandmother to Georgia’s sons, Bryan and Brent King. Her great grand-children are Connor and Kelton King, sons of Bryan and April of Canadian, and Kirkland and Corbin, sons of Brent and Heather King of Amarillo.

Others surviving family members include sisters Marilyn Stewart of Pratt, Kansas, and Vivian Locke of Scottsdale Arizona; two sisters-in-law, Marge Knop of Liberal, Kansas, and Lillian Knop of Littleton, Colorado, in addition to many nieces and nephews.

Blossom was preceded in death by her husband Raymond in 2005; her parents, Leo and Mildred Knop; and her siblings George, William and Caroline.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, memorials be made to The Blossom Newell Memorial Nursing Scholarship through the Opportunity Plan, P. O. Box 1035, 504 24^th Street, Canyon, Texas 79015; or Hemphill County Hospice, 1020 South 4^th Street, Canadian, Texas 79014.