08/27/2026
The City of Newport mourns the passing of Tim Dockery, our Parks & Recreation Director, and remembers a man who devoted three decades of service to our community.
Tim dedicated himself to serving our community and helping make Newport a better place for everyone. Through his work, commitment, and care for our parks and recreation programs, he touched the lives of countless people in our community.
His loss will be deeply felt by his coworkers, friends, and the many families and community members he served.
Please keep Tim’s family, friends, coworkers, and loved ones in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.
Thank you, Tim, for your service and dedication to the City of Newport. You will be truly missed.
Today, our hearts are broken.
It is with profound sadness that we share that our Director, Tim Dockery, has left this world.
For more than three decades, Tim dedicated his life to parks and recreation and to serving the people of Newport. But the impact of his life cannot be measured in years, projects, programs, awards or titles.
It is measured in people.
In the generations of children who grew up in our parks. In the coaches, employees and young professionals he encouraged along the way. In the friendships and partnerships he built. In the places throughout our community that are better because Tim cared enough to believe they could be.
Tim believed deeply in this department. He believed in his people. And even as we celebrated some of our greatest accomplishments together this year, he was always quick to remind us that none of it belonged to one person. It belonged to the team.
That was Tim.
For those of us fortunate enough to work beside him, he was more than our director. He was our leader, our mentor, our friend and the heart of this department.
There are simply no words big enough for this loss.
We will miss his stories. His laugh. His stubbornness. His wisdom. The way he could make us laugh when we probably weren't supposed to. The way he loved this community. And the way he believed, right up until the end, that there was still more good work ahead of us.
Tim spent his career creating places where people could gather, play, grow, belong and make memories.
Now, we will carry his work forward.
We will take care of the places he loved.
We will take care of each other.
And we will do our very best to make him proud.
Thank you, Tim, for believing in Newport.
Thank you for believing in this department.
And thank you for believing in us.
Your legacy is everywhere.
Rest easy, Director. We'll take it from here. ❤️
