John Marley Newport

John Marley Newport of Irrigon and Ukiah was born June 25, 1956 in Novato, California the son of JM and Thelma (Robbs) Newport. He passed away unexpectedly at his home in Irrigon on August 10, 2025 at the age of 69.

John grew up in the Walla Walla, WA and Ukiah, OR areas where he attended schools. He graduated from Ukiah High School in the Class of 1974. After high school, he worked for the US Forest Service fighting forest fires for the next two summers.

John worked at many different jobs throughout his career such as; fork lift operator for Lamb Weston; equipment operator for Eastern Oregon Farms; maintenance worker in Fairbanks, AK; Wastewater Management at the Port of Morrow; Gilroy Foods and Cascade Specialties where he help set up their food processing equipment; for Tillamook where he received his PLC, Refrigeration and Electrical certifications; and Pioneer Seed Company where he worked for six years until retiring in 2018. After retiring he worked as a substitute teacher at Ukiah K-12 School.

John enjoyed fishing, camping, tinkering on projects and computers, prospecting, reading, riding his motorcycle on the open roads and collecting Minions. He enjoyed attending Burning Man at Black Rock City, NV for the annual event where he had worked on the power crew, golf cart crew and Manwatch crew. He especially enjoyed spending time with his family and his grandkid’s hold a special place in “ Pop Pops” heart.

John married Brenda Gillett in Irrigon, Oregon on September 4, 1982.

He is survived by his wife of forty two years, Brenda; three daughters, Sarah (John) Christy, Betsy (Dan) Thompson and Rachel (Leeland) Lafferty; grandchildren, Kaylee, Emma, Olivia, Marley, Rosemary, Evelyn, Theodore, Hunterlyn and Jeremiah; sister, Cheryl (Steve) Louis; brother, Mark (Mary) Stubblefield; sister-in-law, Gail Newport; and many nieces, nephews and extended family members.

He was preceded in death by his mother and stepfather, Thelma and Phil; father, JM; and brother, Tim.

Viewing will be held on Thursday August 14 from 3-5:00 P.M. at Burns Mortuary of Hermiston. A Celebration of life (Wake) will be announced at a later time.

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