William Kelly Newton, a Fort Smith, Ark., retailer who’d been active in the American Gem Society, died on Dec. 29 of pancreatic cancer. He was 74.
Newton—commonly referred to by his middle name, Kelly—was born in Fort Smith and graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1972 with a degree in business management. After college, he became the third generation of his family to head Newton’s Jewelers, the business established in 1914 by his grandfather.
Kelly Newton saw his store as different from other jewelers’. “The way we deal with people is a lot different,” he told JCK in 2013. “We don’t sell. I don’t want anyone here trying to sell. I want them to educate, to share information, and to try to answer questions.”
A longtime member of the American Gem Society (AGS), Newton served on its board of directors and as chair of its membership committee. In 2019, he won the Robert M. Shipley Award, AGS’ highest honor.
When Newton and his wife, Marilyn, retired in 2023, they shut their 109-year-old store. “I’ve been doing this for 53 years. We thought maybe now is time,” Newton told an Arkansas news website. “If you sell to someone else, it’s never really the same.”
Looking back then, he had nothing but good things to say about working in the jewelry industry.
“We’ve been so wonderfully blessed by our customers, and by our community. It’s difficult to even express how much they really mean to us,” Newton said in an interview on the local TV news. “We’ve served multiple generations of families and gotten to know them well. Many of them have become our friends, and we deeply cherish that.”
Newton is survived by Marilyn, his wife of 50 years; three daughters; four grandchildren; and two step-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to Fort Smith First United Methodist Church, Fort Smith Chorale, or the Reynolds Cancer Support House.
Top: Kelly Newton when he won the AGS’ Shipley Award in 2019 (photo courtesy of the American Gem Society)
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