India Louise Davenport Newton, 93, of Uvalde died April 5, 2006, in Austin.

She was born June 14, 1912, in Uvalde to Roy and India Davenport.

She married Calvin A. Newton on Nov. 28, 1935, in Uvalde.

Newton was a schoolteacher for approximately half a century, teaching in the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District until she was 79 years old.

According to family members, it was difficult to go anywhere with her without encountering former students, who greeted her with the same joy that she showed to them. Her family said she had the uncommon knack of knowing when to be firm and when to be gentle and supportive, and that she saw the potential in each student, which she consistently strove to foster.

During her tenure in the Uvalde school system she established the Junior Classical League, a group dedicated to the love of language and for competition. She chaperoned this group to many national competitions, where they routinely excelled as well as had fun.

According to family members, through this organization she was able to expose her students to a much broader social and cultural world while promoting an appreciation and love of learning, which profoundly affected the lives of a multitude over the decades of her commitment and gentle guidance.

To this day, the group endures with the honorific name, The India Newton Junior Classical League.

Newton was preceded in death by her parents; her husband on Jan. 6, 1999; one daughter, Lynn Stover; one granddaughter, Lita Tepper; and one sister, Martha Willingham.

She is survived by three daughters, India Shackelford and husband, Bill, of San Antonio, Jeanne Langston and husband, Bob, of Austin, and Mary Kinard and husband, Brent, of Leakey; seven grandchildren and their spouses, Clint and Buffy Shackelford, David and duVergne Shackelford, Lori and Scott Eichhorn, Michael and Meredith O'Reilly, Chris and Tamara O'Reilly, Doug and Natalie Reed and Sam Kinard; 12 great-grandchildren, Matthew McDonnell, Michael McDonnell, Will Shackelford, Lexi Eichhorn, Logan O'Reilly, Henry Shackelford, Nolan O'Reilly, Keegan O'Reilly, Cade O'Reilly, Garrett Reed, Kendall Reed and Kai O'Reilly.