Aaron Clay Newborn

With the help of Billy Wix, he got an electrician's apprenticeship, after which he became an electrical contractor.  Today, he is Electrical Lead Foreman with Stone & Webster at the Brown's Ferry Nuclear Power Plant.

Ron's 15 minutes of fame was in 2000 when his son Alex, who is on the board of directors of Zodiac Theatre was directing "On Golden Pond".  Ron says, "I was helping build the set, and he was having trouble casting Norman Thayer (the Henry Fonda part).  He asked me to stand in and read at the rehearsal.  Guess what, I got the part (by default).  I had 475 lines of dialog to memorize in three weeks.  No easy feat at our advanced age.   Alex played the part of Bill (the Dabney Coleman part) and we had an absolute blast doing the five performances."

Sam Malone sent Aaron a Thank You note for his part in writing and presenting the 1974 reunion skit.  The note was addressed to "Ron."  Not knowing that everybody calls him by this name now, I asked Ron whether to call him "Aaron" or "Ron," he told me this funny, funny story:

I would say that I prefer Ron to Aaron.  The change was suggested in 1959 when I took a job with WCRR Radio Station in Corinth, MS.  The station manager thought the shorter name would be more discernable over the air.  That's where I met and married Doris, she didn't know my name was Aaron until an aunt referred to me at her shower.

My parents never changed, but almost everyone now calls me Ron.  If anyone calls me Aaron, its because they have known me for over 50 years.  I like both, but sometimes I have to explain to bank tellers when I have checks made out both ways and have endorsed them both ways, just how you get Ron out of Aaron.

It must not be that obvious. 

Here's Ron with his grandson Tucker Hammock at one of Tucker's concerts at Russellville High

Ron (reading the paper) as the Henry Fonda character of On Golden Pond, a 2000 Zodiac Theater production.

Two daughters:

Amber who works at the International Fertilizer Development Center in Muscle Shoals plays the part of Mrs. Keller in "The Miracle Worker" each summer.

Leslie, a former nurse is now a security guard at the Brown's Ferry Nuclear Plant.

Tucker, a 15-year old grandson belongs to Amber and is a gifted actor and singer.  

Ashlie and Dillon, twins belonging to Leslie, are seniors at Rogersville.  She's on track to be a nurse, and he's planning to be a physician.