Mary Lou Newlen

Arcadia - Funeral services honoring the life of Mary Lou Barlow Newlen, 84, will be held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, April 3, 2021 at First Baptist Church in Arcadia, Louisiana. Brother Jeff Hoffman will officiate. Interment will follow at Hurricane Cemetery. Visitation will be from 12:30-1:30 p.m. at First Baptist Church Arcadia. Mary grew up in Arcadia, and moved to Shreveport at the age of 18, where she met the love of her life, Tom Newlen, a young Air Force GI. After moving all over the US for 23 years, Tom and Mary moved home to Arcadia. Tom took up golf when he retired, and he loved it. So, Mary took up golf too to spend time with him. They rarely went anywhere without one another, it just didn't feel right. They shared their 66th wedding anniversary on January 29th, 2021. God bestowed a wonderful blessing on Tom when he met and married Mary, as she was the kind of wife described in Proverbs 31. Mary also reflected a biblical mother and grandmother. Through her life and walk with the Lord, she has shown us how to live with integrity, dignity, and honor! Mary was a very generous, giving, and caring person who helped so many over the years. Mary was a great warrior. She embraced life with courage, bravery, and strength that could only come from the Holy Spirit! In November 2017, she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and throughout her battle with cancer, she never complained and lived to serve and put others first. Mary was a precious jewel who loved her husband and family more than life! Mary Newlen was an extraordinary woman whose celebration of life expressed the purest of love and a deep faith. Mary shared this love and her heart first with our savior Jesus Christ, her husband Tom, her children, her many grandchildren and great grandchildren, her parents, and her sisters. To our family and to so many others who knew Mary, she always reflected the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22. We would like to share our love and our immeasurable gratitude with our sister, Teresa, for the self-less hours spent caring for Mama. We would also like to thank Dr. Gardner, Dr. Wong, Dr. Patel, and Dr. Guthikonda as well as Magnolia Home Health, Stat Home Health, and Hand in Hand Hospice for taking such great care of our Mary. A special thank you to BJ, Sandy, and Carla, our hospice nurses, for their dedicated care. A heartfelt thank you to Brother Jeff for his visits and prayers with our family! The family also would like to thank First Baptist Church and Faye Cook, for their support and prayers. Thank you to all our family and friends for your continued prayers, visits, and kind words as these have meant more to our family than you will ever know! She is preceded in death by her parents E.K. Barlow and Marie Barlow; her son Thomas Wayne Newlen and sisters Laverne Martin and Dorothy Barlow. Mary is survived by her husband Tom Newlen, daughters Teresa Wilkes and husband John, Kimberly Ann Newlen, son Ken Newlen and wife Karen, grandchildren Elisha Coats and husband Brad, Johnny Kilpatrick, Mary Webb and husband Chad, Nick Newlen, Wes Newlen and wife Amber, Blake Newlen, Tyler Link and wife Sarah, Josh Newlen and wife Pam and Jordan Newlen, great grandchildren, Payton, Carter, Addie, Connor, Bailey, Audrey, Tanner, Kobe, Kayleigh, Judson, Josie, Destiny, Thomas, Kayleen, Morgan and Raegan, sisters Faye Cook, Katie Caskey and Connie Bass along with many nieces, nephews. Honoring Mary as pallbearers will be her grandsons Josh, Jordan, Tyler, Johnny, Nick, Wes, Blake, Brad, and Chad. Memorials may be made to WK Cancer Treatment Center in Shreveport, in memory of Mary Newlen, to caddobossierfoundationleague.org