Memorial services planned for airman

Following a service Wednesday in Hawaii, a Lone Peak High School graduate and Highland resident who was killed in Iraq will be memorialized during services in two states: Tennessee and Utah.

William Newman, who died June 7 from wounds received while he disarmed an improvised explosive device, will be honored Friday in Kingston Springs, Tenn., where he moved following his 2002 graduation from Lone Peak.

On Tuesday, Newman's foster parents Jay and Connie Stephens, of Highland, will plant a tree in Newman's honor at the Highland Cemetery, located at 6300 W. 11000 North, in Highland.

The Stephens family is asking for donations to the the cemetery's memorial garden in lieu of flowers.

"(That's) where we can honor William and the many others that have made similar sacrifices," the Stephens said in a news release.

Donations can be made at Highland city offices, 5378 W. 10400 North, also in Highland.

Newman's formal funeral with military honors and fly-by will be June 23 at the Middle Tennessee Veterans Cemetery, near Knoxville, Tenn. Newman was based at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, where his squadron commander, Lt. Col. Dave Maharrey, called him a hero.

"He died while defusing a terrorist IED, off base, in an area where Iraqi women and children's lives were in danger," Maharrey said in a news release.

Newman was approaching his second wedding anniversary to his wife, Soyong, in August, said his sister Elizabeth Wright.

Newman lived with the Stephens family, to whom he is related, for about eight years.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com