“He touched lives that he didn’t know he touched,” Roger Newcome’s son Chip Newcome said. “He started into quilting with the Wesley Quilt Ministry to make baby quilts around 2004.”
Newcome passed away on Saturday, March 4, at his home after an illness.
The baby quilts that the Wesley Quilt Ministry make go to the Preston County Family Resource Network (PCFRN) and are handed out to new mothers.
“Roger would want the glory to go to the quilt ministry,” Roger Newcome’s wife, Peggy Newcome, said. “He was a simple man and didn’t take credit for anything.”
Roger was introduced to quilting by his wife Peggy and his friend Chuck Miller, who also quilts.
Peggy said the ministry has made several hundred quilts over the years for the Preston Memorial Birthing Center and then PCFRN, and Roger helped with the baby quilts, as well as helped quilt some to donate to organizations for raffles.
“The ministry stopped counting the number of baby quilts we made at approximately 700,” Peggy said.
Roger also made his own quilts, including a civil war inspired quilt he was making when he passed.
“The civil war quilt was made of two-inch squares,” Peggy said. “It was a very delicate one. I don’t know if it will ever be finished. When you are quilting, you always have unfinished projects.”
Chip said his dad like the challenge of quilting.
“He was very good at working with the colors and putting together the colors,” Chip said. “It was amazing because he was color blind, but yet he was very good at it.”
Roger also worked at Sheidow Bronze for more than 30 years that instilled a love of patterns that is essential in quilting.
In addition to baby quilts and some larger quilts, Roger and the quilt ministry has made over 400 pocket cross quilts.
“Those are little four-inch patch work quilts with a wooden cross inside,” Peggy said. “People who are going through illness can hold these quilts and remember that God is with them.”
“Roger had one that he would have in his hands or in his pocket when he was going through MRIs and other testing,” Peggy said. “It gave him comfort.”
Roger also belonged to the Local Benevolence and helped to create the Goodwill Dinners that take place monthly at Wesley United Methodist Church in Kingwood.
“He was a founding member of the Goodwill Dinners that serves community members the fourth Friday of every month,” Chip said. “It started with less than 100 dinners being served monthly.”
“Now, they make about 500 dinners monthly,” Chip said. “Those 500 don’t necessarily come into the church social hall to eat. Many of those meals were delivered.”
Chip said the dinner was a large undertaking, and his dad enjoyed being able serve the residents of Preston County.
“He didn’t boast,” Chip said. “He quietly worked in the community.”
“Whenever he did something for the community, Roger would say it was just something he was suppose to do,” Peggy said.
Roger is survived by his wife of 40 years, Peggy Newcome; his four children, Lisa and Daniel McDonald, and Chip and Teressa Newcome; his five grandkids, Kelsie, Joshua and Emily McDonald, and Corrine and Joshie Newcome; and his six nephews and their families.
