Goldsboro native honored as Air Force Spouse of the Year for Washington area
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on October 7, 2007 2:10 AM
Michale C. Newton, a native of Goldsboro, received the Joan Orr Air Force Spouse of the Year Award for the Virginia-Maryland-Washington, D.C., area.
She is the daughter of Linwood and Betty Cherry of Dudley and the granddaughter of the late Willie and Goldie L. Dudley of Dudley and Charlie and Lossie Cherry of Goldsboro.
She and her husband, Sr. Master Sgt. Thomas E. Newton, live at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington. He works at the Pentagon.
Mrs. Newton said her greatest accomplishment as an Air Force wife is making her family the top priority. She and her husband have two sons, Tyler, 14, and Michael, 9. She was honored for her commitment not only to her family but to other families at the base.
"Being independent to achieve what needs to be done to maintain balance in the family is a must in order to maintain success in marriage and as a supportive Air Force spouse," said Newton. "I believe in making the best out of what you have and to remember to count your blessings."
Newton home-schools her two sons and has served as director of the Bolling Area Home Educators, responsible for home education of more than 80 military families on the base. Sgt. Newton is superintendent of Legis-lative Liaison, Secretary of the Air Force, at the Pen-tagon.
She is involved in many activities, from making and sending cards to deployed service members to hosting Bolling's Christmas Pro-gram to participating in Bolling's Christmas Decora-ting Contest, in which the family has won first place for four consecutive years.
While attending Southern Wayne High School, she served as president of the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America, was a student council representative and a member of the marching band. She worked as a model and later as a beauty consultant for a major cosmetics company.
The Newtons were married in 1989. During that same year, Newton completed the Red Cross 1,000 Hours Volunteer Dental Program at Seymour Johnson.
When Hurricane Floyd devastated Wayne County, Mrs. Newton helped collect donations from the Washington region and deliver them to Wayne County residents. She created the Deployed Spouse Program on Bolling in 2001 to provide support to families with deployed spouses and she assisted with the Children's Christmas Program at Bolling, which involved more than 60 children, in 2003 to 2006.
Additionally, she served as BAHE yearbook coordinator from 2000 to 2002 and was the reading program coordinator from 2003 to 2005. Another base activity is Vacation Bible School, in which she has assisted for the past five years.