Michael Ray Neuman

lived in the village of Nashua until his father got a new job as rural mail carrier in nearby Campbell, where Michael attended public school. After high school graduation, Michael attended Moorhead State College for 2 years before moving to Minneapolis for a job on the Burlington Northern Railroad. In 1971 he married Gayle Kathleen “Misty” Thompson, and a few months later they moved to a communal farm in the rural Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. After a few years of milking goats, tending chickens, and raising an organic garden, Michael returned to school and became a Licensed Practical Nurse. During this time, they were introduced to Ozark folk music, instrumentalizing and singing with other talented musicians on the farm. This eventually led to the forming of a band called Mountain Magic, mostly performing 2 evenings a week at the Ozark Folk Center State Park in nearby Mountain View. Over the next 12 years the band recorded 4 studio albums and appeared in 2 National Public Television music specials.

In the fall of1981 he took a leave of absence from nursing for a job planting trees in Texas. For migrant housing, he bought a 30-foot school bus and converted it into an RV. In the spring he accompanied the migrant crew to southern Wisconsin to pick apples on a commercial orchard. When he returned to Arkansas in early summer, he got a job as cook and later assistant manager at the largest restaurant in Mountain Home.

In 1988 Michael returned to nursing and was hired by the regional hospital in Mountain Home. He bought a 4-bedroom home to accommodate the 3 children born on the farm. With the help of a scholarship from the hospital, Michael returned to school and graduated with honors from the University of Central Arkansas with a degree in Registered Nursing. In 1998 Michael was hired by a traveling nurse agency and moved to southern California for better employment. Two years later he and Misty were divorced. A few months later Michael met a successful attorney named Courtney Lynn Caldwell, who has been his Life Partner ever since. In that time, they have enjoyed many worldwide vacations to Mexico, Tahiti, Great Britain, Hawaii, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Aruba, Curacao, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. In 2017 they both retired to enjoy life together a mile from the beach. Michael then resumed his music hobby, writing and recording tunes in his home recording studio, producing 4 more CDs for friends and family to enjoy. Over the years he also wrote a lengthy but not yet published novel called Lord of the Dawn. He was also an avid genealogist, inspired by his maternal grandparents, with an extensive family tree on Ancestry.com.

In April 2023, Michael was diagnosed with a combination of lung cancer and leukemia. He passed away peacefully early in the morning (the day before his 72nd Birthday) at Pine Ridge near his home, where he was undergoing a five-day evaluation. Michael was predeceased by his parents, Raymond Fred Neuman and Dorothy Lorraine (Smith) Neuman. He is survived by his Life Partner Courtney Lynn Caldwell; children Andre Simon Neuman, Pandora Angelique Neuman, and Rainbow Skye Otto; grandchildren Aiden Michael Neuman, Mikayla Starflower Otto, and Matthew Isaac Otto; and siblings Cynthia Rae Armstrong, Jeffrey Scott Neuman, Terry Lynn Neuman, Kimberly Ann Pauley, Kristi Lee O’Neill, and their many children.