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E-mail StoryFamily and friends remember boy killed at sump
| Tuesday, Mar 25 2008 5:26 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Mar 26 2008 7:28 AM
Tuesday was about honoring 9-year-old Zane Anthony Newton who died tragically last week in a sump hole accident.
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Cindy Newton, right, the mother of Zane Newton, hugs two young girls after the services for her son at Greenlawn Mortuary and Cemetery.
A T-shirt hangs on a car at the funeral services for Zane Newton who died in a sump in south Bakersfield last Wednesday.
Pallbearers carry the casket of Zane Newton to graveside services. Newton died last Wednesday in a sump on Saint Helens Avenue.
The body of Zane Newton is escorted to the graveside services at Greenlawn Mortuary and Cemetery by two Bakersfield police motor officers.
Mark Newton fights back tears after the graveside service for his son Zane Newton who died a week ago in a sump on Saint Helens Avenue.
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The honor came in many forms, including his favorite songs, a parade of custom cars, photos of himself with a big smile, scripture from his pastor and a new Mohawk haircut from his friend.
The Mohawk haircut, in memory of one Zane had, was cut Monday on the head of 9-year-old Jose Anthony Zebeldia, a friend of Zane’s for five years.
“He was like a best friend to me,” Jose said. “He liked to skateboard and chase cars at night while we pretended to be holding onto a rope.”
Another friend, 7-year-old Christian Montoya, was also among more than 300 people who filled the Greenlawn Chapel and attended a graveside tribute to Zane.
Christian said he will remember riding bikes with Zane. They would ride and ride until Christian’s dad asked if Zane was tired.
“He’d say no,” Christian remembered.
Both boys said they will miss Zane and his passing has made them sad.
It made many people sad as they cried during a service that was punctuated by Zane’s favorite songs, including Don McLean’s “American Pie."
Zane’s father, Mark Anthony Newton, was especially touched by the music and he sobbed as it played.
He and Zane’s mother, Cindy, also remembered their other two sons, Dillon and Andrew, who died of genetic diseases in the 1990s, shortly after their births.
Both those boys were buried at Greenlawn too.
Two girls remain in the family, Selinah, 14, and a half-sister, Gabri, 20.
A neighbor, Julio Munoz, helped inspire another tribute to Zane, a collection of custom-made cars and trucks which parked around Zane’s burial site.
David Escobar of the Latin World car club in Bakersfield said Zane loved watching Munoz work on cars “and we’re out here today in support of him.”
At the end of the chapel service, as "American Pie" was played, a montage of pictures showed Zane being an exuberant boy — devouring a pizza, sporting his Mohawk and showing off a big smile.
The boy’s pastor, Dr. Frank Ward at Columbus Street Baptist Church, officiated the service and noted that “Zane is one that stood out.”
He recalled long talks with Zane. “He had something to say and he wanted you to know his thoughts and feelings,” the pastor said.
He reminded the people that Jesus called little children to himself, saying that people have to be like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven.
“We are grateful to God for giving us Zane, and knowing and loving him,” Ward said. “Zane is in the hands and arms of Jesus in heaven as we speak today.”