Joan Carney Newsum

Joan Carney Newsum, age 101, passed away in her home surrounded by family on August 10, 2026. She was born on March 7, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York to Bessie and Daniel Carney. An excellent student, Joan skipped a grade in junior high school and laughingly admitted to skipping a class or two to see a very young Frank Sinatra in concert. She graduated from Manhattan’s Washington Irving High School in 1943. Joan attended New York University, majoring in international relations, but due to a family emergency, had to withdraw prior to completing her degree requirements. Joan married Fitzroy Newsum, a captain in the U.S. Air Force (and a Tuskegee Airman), in 1949.

During her husband’s 27-year Air Force career, Joan lived on military bases in New York, France, Louisiana, Colorado (Lowry Air Force Base) and Kansas, and raised the couple’s four children. Determined to set an example for her children by completing her college education, Joan earned her Bachelor of Science degree in education from Wichita State University in 1969. Joan and Fitzroy returned to Denver in 1970 after Fitzroy retired from the Air Force. A special education teacher, Joan taught in Denver Public Schools and then began her second career as a civilian employee on Lowry Air Force Base. She retired in 1989.

Joan was active in the Denver Urban League and Park Hill’s St. Thomas Episcopal Church. She was an avid skier, hitting the slopes and trails in New York, France, and Colorado. Joan was also a passionate traveler: she and her husband journeyed to Europe, South America, the Caribbean and South Pacific as well as many locations throughout the United States and Canada. An active reader, Joan enjoyed both fiction and cookbooks that reflected her travels. In recent years, she enjoyed long drives through Colorado’s mountains and plains and weekend happy hours with her children, son-in-law, and grandchildren. Joan lived a full and purposeful life and was an inspiration to her family and friends.

Joan is survived by her four children: Brian Newsum, Dani Newsum (Ron), Eric Newsum (Darnell), and Gail Newsum; her four grandchildren, Nicholas, Taylor, McKenna (Anthony), and Savannah; her nieces, Debbie Carney and Cynthia Carney Johnson; and her nephews, Terrance Carney and Bruce Carney. She was preceded in death by her husband, Fitzroy; her parents, Bessie and Daniel Carney; her brothers, Daniel and Harold; her granddaughter, Marissa Newsum-Schoenberg; and her niece, Marcia Roulhac.