8-16-1922 3-4-2013
Peter Newberg was born on August 16, 1922, in Willmar, Minnesota; to Peter and Edith Newberg. He died at his home in Bakersfield on March 4, 2013. He attended Willmar schools, and on his 18th birthday in 1944 joined the U.S. Navy.
He served on the U.S.S. Yorktown CV5, first in the Atlantic, and after Pearl Harbor, sailed through the Panama Canal to the Pacific theatre. His ship took part in the historic battles of The Coral Sea and Midway. After the Yorktown was sunk, Peter served on the U.S.S. West Virginia, taking part in many important battles in the Pacific, including the bombardment of Iwo Jima.
After WWII, Peter attended the University of California at Berkeley, graduating with a degree in Petroleum Engineering. He went to work for Standard Oil Company in Taft, California, and then to many parts of the world. He returned to Bakersfield to work for Occidental Petroleum until retirement. Peter was a wonderful person and a true renaissance man. He had many interests and accomplishments: sailing and scuba diving with his friends, the septuagenarian sailors, studying French, working on his 1931 Model A Ford Truck, making things of wood and metal in his well-equipped workshop. Barbershop singing and making wine. He was an avid reader and enjoyed music. He was secretary of the Yorktown Club and treasurer of the Danish Club for many years. Everything he did was done with care and precision. Peter was pre-deceased by his parents, his sister, Delores; first wife Laurell; and two sons, Michael and Merle.
He is survived by his daughter-in-law, Laura Condon, granddaughter, Annmarie Newberg, and grandson Matthew Sontag. He is also survived by his second wife, Susan, step-children Wes Jackson (Patty), Julie Morgan, Judy Scheer, and Laura Jackson; and their children, Garrett and Meghan and David Klein; Matthew and Maggie Morgan, Kate Francis, and Brett Jackson.
His family and friends will miss him greatly. No services are planned.
Many thanks to the wonderful staff at Hoffman Hospice, and to Peter’s doctors who cared for him.
