{"id":8166,"date":"2026-04-28T06:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T10:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/?p=8166"},"modified":"2026-04-30T07:29:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T11:29:48","slug":"merle-r-newell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/?p=8166","title":{"rendered":"Merle R. Newell"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Hornell, New York<\/p>\n

Merle R. Newell \u2013 88 \u2013 of Locust Dr., Hornell, died Monday evening (April 27, 2026) at the Vincent House in Wayland, following a long illness.<\/p>\n

Born in Cuba, NY on April 15, 1938, he was the son of Merle & Ida (Gray) Newell.<\/p>\n

Merle grew up in Hornell where he attended Hornell public schools.\u00a0 He had been employed for a time at the former Max Wilkins Auto where he worked painting cars.<\/p>\n

A veteran of the United States Army, Merle served his country from 1961 – 1966.\u00a0 \u00a0While in the Army, he contracted lead poisoning and from that point on was unable to work.\u00a0 Following his honorable discharge from the US Army, Merle returned to the Hornell area and for most of his adult life resided on the Old Big Creek Road.<\/p>\n

Merle was a former member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Hornell.\u00a0 In his younger years, Merle enjoyed deer hunting and also became a collector of old Hornell post cards, rare coins, postage stamps and old bottles.\u00a0 He was an avid Buffalo Bills Football fan — especially during the Super Bowl years.\u00a0 Merle also had a love of animals (especially cats) and would actually feed a wild bear on his property.<\/p>\n

In addition to his parents, Merle was preceded in death by 3 brothers, James Newell, Charles Newell and Jerry Newell (who died just one day before Merle\u2019s death); his sister, Ida Schmitz.<\/p>\n

Surviving are his sister, Betty (Norman) Avery of Hornell; his brother, George Newell of Hornell; his sister-in-law, Marilyn Newell of Rochester; along with nieces & nephews.<\/p>\n

At Merle\u2019s request there will be no calling hours.\u00a0 Interment with military honors will be held at the Bath National Cemetery at the convenience of the family.<\/p>\n

Funeral arrangements are in care of the Dagon Funeral Home, 38 Church St., Hornell, NY.<\/p>\n

Merle\u2019s family request that in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in his name be made to The Vincent House , PO Box 566, 310 Second Ave., Wayland, NY\u00a0 14572.<\/p>\n

To leave an online condolence or share a memory, visit www.dagonfuneralhome.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hornell, New York Merle R. Newell \u2013 88 \u2013 of Locust Dr., Hornell, died Monday evening (April 27, 2026) at the Vincent House in Wayland, following a long illness. Born in Cuba, NY on April 15, 1938, he was the son of Merle & Ida (Gray) Newell. Merle grew up in Hornell where he attended […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-obituaries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8166"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8172,"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8166\/revisions\/8172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dagonfuneralhome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}