John R. Newsome (82) of Shumway

John Robert Newsome, 82, of Shumway passed away on Tuesday, July 7, 2020.

A private celebration of John’s life will be held with arrangements being in the care of Bauer Funeral Home in Effingham.

He was born May 1, 1938 in Chicago, the eldest son of John O. and Helen F. (Slezcka) Newsome. After high school, he became an apprentice bindryman at RR Donnelly in Chicago. He then moved his young family to Lawrence, Kansas, where he took a job as a bindery foreman at Kansas Color Press. From there, he took a job with Kroeger Printing Company in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. In 1970, he took a job and moved his family to Effingham, where he began a career with World Color Press, until he started his own engineering and manufacturing company in Shumway. Originally known as Southern Illinois Machinery Company Inc., it was later renamed SIM Products. John was a self-taught engineer with over 50 patents to his name. 

He was a philanthropist, donating to local charities like the YMCA, Kluthe Center and Effingham County Sheriff’s Department, among others.

John was an avid hunter; big game hunting all over the world. His office was a showcase for hundreds of trophies, with fishing being his second love. He was an intelligent, outgoing, colorful man measuring many with his stories about everything.

John is survived by his wife, Helene Newsome of Shumway; daughters, Emilie (Silas Guenther) of Edwardsville, Jeanne (Tim) Wendt of Effingham and Julie (Brian) Burke of Naperville; 10 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren; brother, Terrance of Chicago and daughter-in-law, Angie Newsome of Effingham.

John was preceded in death by his parents, son, John A. Newsome and brother, Norman.