ForeverMissed
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His Life

Memoirs

October 20, 2016



*****NOTE***** 

My brothers (Dawson & Travis) and I (Braden) photographed Richard's hand written memiors that he had been working on and typed them so that they could be shared with you all.    

We assembled the original version with photographs to better compliment his memoirs, his life, and his art.  That full version with images can be seen, downloaded and printed by clicking on the link below or you can scroll down to read the text only version.  Either way, enjoy!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0Bxh836Mwl38fMzRHb1hPR3ZaWEk?usp=sharing


The Memoirs of Richard E. Dawson

Table of Contents

Facts of Life.

Lorraine Dawson.

Memoir Highlights.

Prologue.

How Lorraine and Richard Became Married.

The First Date.

My First Job.

Our Courtship.

Looking Back to World War II

Our Marriage.

The Honeymoon.

Vacation Up North.

The Move of 200 Miles North.

To Write About What Is!.

The “House” in Murray Hollow..

Near Death Experience & The House continued.

The Big Break!.

Teaching Art at Cambridge Central School

Teaching Art at Cambridge Central (continued).

 

Facts of Life

Name:  Richard Evans Dawson Jr.  (1919 to 2016)

Born:  November 30, 1919 in Bergenfield, New Jersey, 9lbs 3oz

Parents:  Richard E Dawson Senior; Emily Florena von Weiderhold

Brother:  William Dawson

Sister:  Marion Dawson MacIntyre

 

 

High School Studies:

Grammar and High school in Tenafly, New Jersey; Graduated Tenafly High School June 1938 Played 1st Violin in the High School Orchestra and was chosen to play in the All-State Orchestra of N.J. under the direction of José Iturbi, a famous director and pianist.   

Majored in Art all four years of High School.

College Studies and General Timeline:

1940:  Accepted at Cooper Union Art Institute as one of 60 out of 2,000 applicants. 1944 and WWII era: After 3 years at Cooper Union, left there to work in a defense plant (Walter Kidde) making fire-fighting equipment for the armed forces.  Worked at Consolidated Films in Quality Control, making training films for the armed forces. Met Lorraine Olsen (then age 18) and taught her about Quality Control. Later worked as an artist at Consolidated Films for Paul Pandolfi, air brushing and color schemes for theater lobby art Republic Pictures. 1949:  Worked as a Silk Screen Maker for Appleman Art Glass Works. 1950:  Called Lorraine for our first date to see the movie “Father of the Bride”.  A six month romance and courtship flourishes. 1951:  Marriage at Grantwood Baptist Church,  January 6, 1951, 7pm Candle Light Service 1951:  On November 1st a daughter, Dianne is born. 1953:  In June, moved to house on 42 acres in Shushan called Murray Hollow Road. 1954:  Worked in Walloomsac, for Columbia Box Board. 1955:  Worked as Receiving and Shipping Forman for Asgrow Seed Co. At each job I did I was able to use my art ability to do extra art projects for each company.  Example:  Letter Company Name in 15” letters on side of a house.  Make a 9 foot pattern of Asgrow to go on a large water tower.  Design bulb bags. Letter Trucks. 1957:  September.  My big break for a career in teaching art at the Cambridge Central School!  John Lylis sales manager at Asgrow, and also president of the Board of Education said we need an art teacher in Cambridge.  My friend and secretary Evelyne Hayes said “What about Dick?” And this started the ball rolling.  Praise the Lord for guiding and directing every need for advancement in life! 1957:  I was accepted by Isabell Sullivan at the bureau of Certification. I had transcripts from Cooper Union and letters of introduction from former art directors, however I had to go back to college. 1958:  Columbia, Teachers College to take academic subjects, earn 60 college credits to add 60 credits allowed for Cooper Union.  I had 10 years to do this, summers and night school.  This would give me a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts and Fine Arts Education.  Later another 30 credits were added on for a Master’s Degree.  So I actually earned 90 college credits in thirteen of the twenty years I taught in Cambridge Central School. 1977:  After teaching for 20 years, 5th grade through Senior High, I retired at age 57.


Lorraine Dawson

Parents:  T. William Olsen and Anne Olsen

Born:  23 June 1926 in Englewood, New Jersey.

Graduated from Fort Lee High School

Attended Bergen Junior College

Married Richard E. Dawson Jr on Jan 6th, 1951

Children:

Dianne Dawson: Dawson Gabriella Travis Ryan Beau Braden Richard (Rick) E. Dawson III Brooks Greg Adrian Seth

Brother:  T. William Olsen and wife Helen

Sister:  Dorothy Hommel

  Memoir Highlights 

 (Entry dated January 2, 2010; page 1 of hand written memoirs)

 

Webster’s New World Dictionary definition of MEMOIR:  A report or record of happenings based on the writer’s personal observation and knowledge of special information.  (My Memories)

 

My first memory of a long train trip with my mother, Emily, and baby sister, Marian, was to Canada.  Dad had an Aunt Belle and her family living in Windsor, Canada.  Mom needed a rest, a change from tending a baby, Marion, under a year old.  My brother Bill, 3 years old, was left at home at Grandma and Grandpa von Weiderhold’s house in Bergenfield, New Jersey.  A wonderful great Aunt, Mary Ellen Johnston, a top notch dress maker, lived with them also.

 

We arrived in Windsor, Canada, and met the family of Dad’s.  It was early November and it was snowing very well.  I slept in the same room with a teen age son who was a lot of fun.  At night, in the dark of the room, he would shine a flashlight on his hand and make silhouettes of ducks and birds and animals on the wall.  This was fascinating to me at age five, almost six.  Great Auntie Mary Ellen wrote a letter to me telling me on November 30, 1925 I would become six!

 

When dad came up to bring us home they thought he was bringing back to America a Canadian woman and her children, and would not let us enter America.  The authorities asked me to say the alphabet.  I said “Z” and not “ZED” and they let us back into America!

 

(Entry dated January 22, 2010; page 2 of hand written memoirs)

 

When I was still 5 years old we lived in a house on Valley Place.  We could see across a lot to the Front Street in Tenafly, NJ where dad’s mother and father lived – our paternal grandparents.  Dad had two brothers, Uncle Ed and Scottie.  I never met Scottie – unfortunately.  He was an expert swimmer, but dove off a cliff and was drowned in the water below.  Dad had 4 sisters, Annie (a chief telephone operator), Peggy (a nurse in the Englewood Hospital), Isabelle (a telephone operator and Minnie, the youngest was only 11 years old when I was 5.

 

Dear Minnie, only a child herself, insisted on taking me at 5 years old to Sunday school with much resistance from Mom.  First, I needed a haircut, then I needed shoes shined, but Minnie met all the obstacles, thank God.  I learned who Jesus was and grew to love Him and that made all the difference in my life.  Aunt Minnie died at age 95 when I was 89 in the year 2009.  Minnie’s daughter Betty Lee and I correspond now.  Isabel’s Daughter Peggy Ann Walsh gave me Minnie’s Phone number about 4 years ago and we renewed our friendship with letters, photos, and phone calls.

 

At age 5, Mom showed me how to plant string beans, and at age 90, I’m still planting beans and growing a vegetable garden.

 

(Entry dated February 16-17, 2010; Page 3 of hand written memoirs)

 

Now dear readers, we take a leap to the present.  It has not been a happy month for two very important reasons.

 

On January 14, my brother Bill, 88, stepped on black ice in the asphalt in his driveway and hit his head in a bad fall.  He was knocked unconscious.  His wife, Kit, did not know how long he lay there, but when he came to and got up and went into the house, he had a large bump on his head.

 

For the next two weeks he seemed ok, but when we visited to play games at the table, Bill seemed unsteady to both of us.  A couple of days later, I brought up an old “walker” from the barn.  He was hardly able to drag himself with it from the bathroom to an easy chair in the living room.

 

We all agreed he should see a doctor in the hospital.  Shushan Rescue Squad took Bill to Bennington hospital.  That was Saturday February 6th I believe.  Lorraine and I joined Kit and sat with him in the emergency room.  He was given a CAT scan, and the doctor said he had blood in his brain and had to be taken by ambulance to Albany Med where they had the surgeons and facility to operate on Bill’s head.

 

February 21, 2010 - Doctors doing everything possible, Bill went home to be with the Lord.  Kit went with Lee and elders every day until she heard the news by phone early Sunday, 21 February 2010.

 

(Entry dated March 4, 2010; Page 4 of hand written memoirs)

 

The other important reason it has not been a happy month is the fact that on February 1, 2010, a Monday, our son Rick had back surgery.  They fused together six vertebrae.  He has had a lot of pain as it heals, and it takes a lot of patience on Rick’s part not to lift something and spoil the healing.

 

To go back to Kit, Linda came to help with her paper-work - Bob arrived March 3, 2010.  Yesterday Pastor Orlemann planned with Kit the “Memorial Service” for bill at 3pm, Sunday March 7, 2010 at the Coila Church.

 

Tuesday March 29, 2010

 

Rick’s Wife Jerrine had a biopsy on her neck (thyroid) last week.  She was going to find out from the doctor today whether or not it was cancer or benign.  We pray it was benign!

 

It is being watched carefully for any flair ups.

 

(Entry dated February 23, 2011; Page 5 of hand written memoirs)

 

How is it possible that a whole year has gone by since Brother Bill went home to be with the Lord.

 

The best way to record MEMOIRS is to high-light a single story or incident from memory. 

 

The All State Orchestra of New Jersey.

 

I was 17 years of age and played 1st violin in the Tenafly High School orchestra led by our director of music Clifford Demarest.  He chose the best musicians to try out in front of 3 judges.  If they passed you, you were accepted to play in the New Jersey All State Orchestra of high school students.

 

The orchestra consisted of 250 young musicians (with all the instruments used in a SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA) to be directed by José Iturbi, an internationally famous director and pianist.  There was also a choir of 300 young people.

 

I was fortunate to have been chosen to play first violin in the All State Orchestra.  We practiced in small groups in various parts of the state.  We played great classical music by Richard Wagner – “Die Meistersinger” and Cesar Franck’s “Symphony in D Minor”.  The last piece was “An Almighty Fortress is Our Lord” which included Mr. Demarest at the big organ – three hundred voice choir and the symphony orchestra of 250 players directed by José Iturbi in the Constitutional Hall in Atlantic City, NJ with a WOR Radio broadcast.  What a magnificent experience!

 

 (Entry dated February 23, 2011; Page 6 of hand written memoirs)

 

We met many kids our own age from places and schools from all over the state of Jew Jersey.  In free time from hours of practice in the large dance hall or ball room at the top of hotel Morton, we would take walks on the boardwalk and piers.  In stepping over a missing plank in the pier, a cold November wave washed up thru it and drenched me.  I had to go back to the hotel, hang up my clothes to dry and what else could I do?  I got in bed for a quiet rest.

 

It was fun to meet other boys and girls from other parts of the state of N.J.  We did share addresses and we wrote friendly letters, but soon they dwindled to none.  It wasn’t much fun when we lived too far way to see each other.

 

However, the magnificent classical music we played under the direction of a great director, Jose Iturbi, caused our spirts to sour higher than ever before.  I’m sure that experience we all had playing and singing great music brought us all much closer to the great and glorious God who loves us all and wants us to believe with faith in Him and His Son, Jesus.

 

P.S.  The kids asked Jose to Play Debussy’s Clair De Lune on a concert grand piano.  It was exquisite!

 

A year later, I saw a movie called “One Hundred Men and a Girl”.  The hundred men played in a symphony Orchestra – directed by Jose Iturbi, and the girl was Deanna Durbin.

Prologue

 

How Lorraine and Richard Became Married

 

(Entry dated March 26, 2011; Page 7 of hand written memoirs)

 

When I was 21 in 1941 I was rejected by the army for a heart condition and very high blood pressure and given two years to live!  Wanting to do anything to help in the war effort I worked the night shift in Walter Kidde’s making firefighting equipment for the armed services having left Cooper Union in the beginning of my 4th year.  Later I worked in the Quality Control Department of Consolidated Films in Fort Lee New Jersey.

 

There it was that I met Lorraine Olsen, just 18 years old, right out of High School.  She was extremely conscientious, carrying cans of film to various people to project the film.  Later Lorraine was promoted to my department in Quality Control, where she would learn that business.  She told me years later that she learned best from me.

 

After the war, I left Consolidated to work in Appleman Art Glass Works where I learned to print designs on glass ware and used paint with ground glass on chandeliers shipped to Sears and Roebuck.  After that job, I went back to Consolidated Films and worked in the Art Department making airbrush and paste up theater lobby posters with Paul Pandolfi, my Art Director.

 

There I met Lorraine once again as she still worked in Consolidated, and my sister Marion worked there also as a projectionist, checking films.

 

 (Entry dated March 26, 2011; Page 8 of hand written memoirs)

 

I was not thirty and still raising chickens and planting a vegetable garden each year.  I had a beautiful show horse and bred her and had a filly at my piano teacher’s home as she had barns.  I was teaching piano on Saturdays with 15 pupils and giving recitals.

 

A young man friend who knew me said “It looks like you’ve got everything, but still, there is something missing in your life.”

 

My sister Marion said “Why don’t you ask out that nice Lorraine Olsen with whom you worked with in Consolidated?”

 

I said “Yes, why not?”  So I called, and her mother said she wasn’t home yet from a vacation.  However she said I have a painting that needs repair from a tear and retouching.  I said, I’ll be glad to restore it, and I did.  Later when Lorraine was home, I called again, and we made a date to go to a movie in Tenafly.

 

The First Date

 

I cleaned the 1939 Chevy Coupe with the Scotch plaid seat covers and white wall tires, put on a light blue summer suit and went a calling to Lorraine on Maple St. in Ft Lee.  She looked lovely and had a quiet confidence about her.  She thought it might be a pleasant evening to go out with an old friend she knew so well.  And- we were going to see “Father of the Bride” with Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor.  (She just died on 23 March 2011 at age 78).

 

 (Entry dated March 26, 2011; Page 9 of hand written memoirs)

 

It was exciting to go on a date with an old friend, especially one like Lorraine.  She had character, was pure in thought and had received Jesus as her Lord and Savior and her friend.

 

I made some conversation like, “If you hear some rumbling in the rear, it isn’t a rumble seat, just some tools in the trunk.”  She laughed kindly, and we recalled some memories from our past at Consolidated Films.

 

When we stopped at the red light in Englewood at Palisade Ave and Engle Street she reached over near her door, and as I looked at her I thought, “How beautiful she is with those sweet kind eyes, chiseled features and rich brunette hair!”  “What have I missed all these past years?”  I didn’t know it at that moment, but later Lorraine said to me, “God spoke to me.” He said, “This is the man you are going to marry.”  Lorraine always had difficulty making up her mind (even when buying a pocket book) but this was very different.  If God said it, it must be true and right.  And I didn’t hear words from God but I had definite strong feelings and knowledge that this was it and it was right and good!  Praise God for all His wisdom and goodness, glory and honor!

 

After the movie, which we hardly do remember, we had an ice cream treat, and I said, “Would you like to see my horses?”  It was a beautiful warm moonlight night, and she said “Yes, it would be lovely”. 

 

 (Entry dated March 26, 2011; Page 10 of hand written memoirs)

 

So, we drove up a couple of miles north to Demarest where I lived, and stopped at Hortense Harrington’s Old Dutch Homestead, where I studied piano.  We walked down to the barns and the horses came out to see us.  They nudged us closer together.  The roses were in full bloom on a trellis in the moonlight and never smelled so sweet.

 

Alas, the delightful evening had to come to an end.  When I walked her to her door to say good night, we both knew something different had happened in our friendship.  I wanted to fold her in my arms and kiss her goodnight, but I refrained for fear of rushing and spoiling a perfect date.  I shook her hand which was slender, warm and firm in mine.  I said we must do something like this again, and she agreed.  We said good night and I walked on air to the little Chevy coupe with the red wheels.

 

Who would have believed that we would be married on the following January 6, 1951 and now it is march 26, 2011, over 60 years of happy marriage, two children, a girl and a boy, seven grandsons and a great granddaughter? 

 

God is so good!

 

My First Job

 

(Entry dated March 26, 2011; Page 11 of hand written memoirs)

 

I had just graduated from Tenafly High School in 1938.  Jobs were scarce.  What vocational training did I have?  I was concertmeister in the H.S. Orchestra – I could read, write a composition and knew how to add, subtract and multiply.  But what kind of a job could I get?  I was 18 years old.

 

I had occasionally taken the bus down to Englewood to the Dunwoody Company where Dad was a new car salesman.  I would drive a customer’s car over to Hackensack and go through an inspection line.  For this service I would receive 50 cents.  One day I drove 4 customer’s cars over for inspection and made $2.00.  Walt Dunwoody said I was making too much money, so he offered me a regular job of polishing cars at 25 cents an hour.  That way I could make $2.00 every day and in 5 days would make $10.00!

 

I tried out for a two day exam to enter Cooper Union Art Institute in NY City.  Out of 2,000 applicants only 60 were accepted.  I was not one of them that first try sitting in a large auditorium where Lincoln had made a speech.  The second year I tried again and was accepted!  We had moved the year before in 1938 to a Spanish style house on Isabella Way in Demarest, N.J.

 

It was there that I met Mrs. Hortense Harrington who was a marvelous talented teacher of the piano.  I played the violin with her at her church.  She heard me play a little on her beautiful Mason Hamlin Grand Piano, and she said, “I would like to teach you piano, even if you can’t pay me!”  She was a wonderful Christian influence on me and with her great encouragement I advanced rapidly at the piano.

 

 (Entry dated March 26, 2011; Page 12 of hand written memoirs)

 

Naturally, I could not have a job and travel 3 hours round trip to go to Cooper Union to study art every day.  On Saturday Mornings, I would walk around the corner to Mrs. Harrington’s beautiful old Dutch Homestead for a piano lesson.  She charged only $2.00 an hour, and I paid when I could and mended old music books and torn sheet music.

 

In the meantime my brother Bill had graduated from Tenafly High School and got a job selling Chevrolet and Olds Mobile with Dad at the Dunwoody Company in Englewood.  Bill was a great brother!  He said to Mom and Dad, “I’m glad one of us can get a college education.”  And he offered to lend me the money needed for carfare, and art supplies.  I fortunately had a free full scholarship to Cooper Union.  After a couple of years of piano lessons, Hortense Harrington said she had an overflow of piano students.  She gave me two young boys, Henry Shuck and little Freddie Jorgensen.  I did well with them and soon had 15 students on every Saturday.  God was training me to have patience and fortitude!  Little did I know that I would teach art in the Cambridge Central School at age 37 for a period of 20 years “Career Plan?”.

 

With the money I made teaching piano, I was able to pay Bill back the money he had so kindly loaned to me when I needed it.

 

Henry Shuck was such a good piano student, at age 14, he accompanied me on the piano when I played violin at a concert given by Lorraine’s mother, Ann Olsen.

 

 (Entry dated March 26, 2011; Page 13 of hand written memoirs)

 

I was now 30 years old and courting Lorraine at that concert, Lorraine and I were trying to talk about our wedding date and Henry, 14, not knowing anyone at the concert, was following us around and we couldn’t avoid him!

 

Henry went to study music at a college in New York.  Fifty years later, he called me on the phone to thank me for the early piano lessons I had given him and for introducing him to accompaniment, as when he accompanied me on the violin.  He told me he was teaching music for 52 years in a school in New Jersey, and loved doing it.  I said, Henry, this is so wonderful, I hate to hang up the phone, but, thank you so much for calling me.

 

I had many jobs following that first on polishing cars.  During WWII I left Cooper Union after my third year to work in a war plant making firefighting equipment for the armed forces.  It was Walter Kidde.  Later I worked in Consolidated Films in the Quality Control Department.  This is where I met Lorraine and taught her the job.  In later years when I got the job to teach in public school, she had no misgivings and knew I would be a good teacher.  I worked for a time in Appleman Art, learning to make and use silk screens.  Later came back to Consolidated Films to learn air brushing, paste up special lettering and color schemes for theater lobby poster ads for motion pictures.

 

God knew I would need all of these job experiences to use in Teaching.  What a great God we serve!

 

Our Courtship

 

(Entry dated April 27, 2011; Page 14 of hand written memoirs)

 

That first date, written about earlier, started in August 1950, and continued until we were married in January 6, 1951.

 

One of our dates was to go to Madison Square Garden to see a horse show.  We saw horses ridden and waltzing in time to music!  It was beautiful.  Another date we packed a lunch (Mrs. Olsen added a homemade apple pie) and drove to Manunka Chunk, NJ at the Delaware River.  I had friends there who owned 15 horses and the stallion “Benison” who was mated with my show horse, “Cheri”.  I had spent a summer working for Frank Hayes and was the lead horseman and riding instructor for a nearby camp.  I had 12 horses to care for and match with riders.

 

I saddled up two easy going quiet horses and Lorraine and I enjoyed a quiet ride up the trail lined with beautiful Rhododendrons.  Lorraine saw “Benison”, the powerful Morgan stallion in his big box stall.  Later, we put on our swim suits and went down to the river for a refreshing swim and a picnic lunch on a grassy knoll. 

 

Another time, I cooked a chicken dinner and invited Lorraine up to my parents’ home.  I showed her my oil paintings and played some classical pieces on the grand piano I had bought recently.  It was a lovely evening.

 

Another time, I went down to Fort Lee to bring Lorraine home for a Thanksgiving dinner at our home.  My sister Marion and her husband Arthur were there.  They kidded me saying, “Do you want Arthur to go for her?”  I said adamantly, “Not on your life.”

 

Looking Back to World War II

 

(Entry dated May 30, 2011; Page 15 of hand written memoirs)

 

I was proud of my brother Bill, for going into the army, becoming a Sergeant and working a crew on the “Big Gun”, the 8” Howitzer.  The shells he lifted and loaded were 200lbs each.  The powerful boom was so noisy that Bill was hearing impaired ever after.  He spent 3 ½ years fighting in WWII all the way from North Africa to Italy, (The Battle of Casino) and France, to Germany.  America was instrumental in helping the allies with the war.

 

We were all so happy when Bill came home all in one piece.  He didn’t waste any time looking for a wife, a lifetime partner.  And he found one soon after in the lovely, beautiful blond Corrine DeCosta, we all call Kit.

 

I felt bad that I wasn’t accepted in the army, because of a heart condition and very high blood pressure.  The army doctors gave me 2 years to live!!  But I refused to believe them.  I wanted to believe God had other plans for my life.  Bill was very kind when he said to me, “Dick, you would have made a very good soldier, because you would strictly obey orders.”

 

Today is “Memorial Day”, on May 30, 2011.  The TV has shown many proud marching bands that thrill the heart with love for our America that was truly blessed by God.  We became the strongest, wealthiest and most generous Nation in the world!

 

Lorraine and I pray that our leaders will return to the Constitution and give up their lust for power and greed and do what’s best for the American people!  Sometimes America was called the “Melting pot of Nations” and that gave us strength in freedom and liberty.  May God still have patience with the U.S.A. and restore us to goodness and righteousness and our former glory.

 

 

Our Marriage

 

(Entry dated June 5, 2011; Page 16 of hand written memoirs)

 

We finally set the date for our marriage on January 6, 1951.  Lorraine was 24 ½ and I had turned 31 a month before.  It was an exciting time:  Who to invite – All the Song Spinners – all of my piano students and their parents – Will Uncle Bill marry us or Pastor Clark from Lorraine’s Church?

 

Soon, everything was arranged and settled.  It would be a candlelight service at 7pm.  The Song Spinners directed by my mother in law to be, sang softly, my brother Bill, my best man, was more nervous than I was in our spotless tuxedos.

 

At 7pm Mrs. Harrington struck the organ loudly with the familiar wedding song!  My legs felt giddy for a moment, strengthened when I saw my beautiful bride to be coming down the isle of the church on her father’s arm.  Following them was her little 5 year old cousin Beth, our flower girl throwing petals.

 

Uncle Bill Thompson went through the marriage ceremony flawlessly, and after we said our “I do’s” he said I now pronounce you husband and wife.  You may kiss the bride.  Lorraine’s slender hands were “ice cold” and my heart was racing, but we knew we had made a holy marriage commitment before God and many witnesses.

 

And now, Sunday June 5, 2011, over 60 years of happy marriage, we thank God for His many blessings, of opening doors and shutting others, watching over us so faithfully.

 

The Honeymoon

 

(Entry dated August 6, 2011; Page 17 of hand written memoirs)

 

After the reception at the Women’s Club in Englewood where we cut the beautiful wedding cake and had the first dance together, we left for a friend’s apartment for our first night.  She was staying at my parents’ home, and graciously wanted to share her apartment with us as it was not too far to travel.  The boys had attached a big sign “JUST MARRIED” on the trunk of our Chevy coupe and tied tin cans to the rear bumper.  They rattled down the road and people honked their horns and waved.  Finally the cans fell off!

 

It was a delightful evening!  Can we believe it?  We are really married in Holy Matrimony in God’s presence, and many friends and witnesses!  What a magnificent commitment to make to each other for life!  No matter what happens, we are there for each other for as long as we live.

 

The next morning, Lorraine was surprised when I brought in two cups of coffee and toast with jam.  We enjoyed our first coffee and toast in bed the very first morning of our marriage and that ritual has continued for more than 60 years of morning coffees!  It’s a good way to start the day.

 

It took us about 3 days to reach our destination in Florida.  We stayed with an elderly couple who rented their apartment and were known by our family.  We had fun walking and driving on the beach, swimming but most of all, getting to know each other as time went on.

 

Vacation Up North

 

(Entry dated August 9, 2011; Page 18 of hand written memoirs)

 

After a few months we finally got our own apartment in Alpine, New Jersey.  It was less than ½ a block from Bill and Kit’s little house that they rented.

 

By early summer, Lorraine knew she was pregnant with our first child.  So, we decided to take a much needed vacation up in Vermont and upstate New York.  Our first night was spent in a motel in Arlington, Vermont.

 

The next morning, I walked over to the bedroom window and looked out to the magnificent mountains of Vermont with majestic pine trees.  The air was cool and fresh.  I turned and said very meaningfully “Lorraine, let’s move up here!”  She could hardly believe I said that but I was serious.  Lorraine had relatives up North – Cousin Sylvia her daughter Betty, Doug and Stanley.  Our dream of moving up North, at least 200 Miles North of Alpine, New Jersey, was going to become a reality!  Lorraine was very happy at the prospect of living up “North”, as she enjoyed summers with her relatives and hated to go back home when the summer vacation was over!

 

We knew it would take time to plan, find a place to live, but we both wanted to make it a reality.

 

Meantime, we had our beautiful healthy little daughter, Dianne, born while we lived in Alpine in Ally Smith’s apartment.  Life goes on.

 

PS:  That vacation and those words “Let’s move up here” were a strong impetus.

 

The Move of 200 Miles North

 

(Entry dated September 9, 2011; Page 19 of hand written memoirs)

 

“Let’s move up here” – were serious words.  We actually went to see a fine real estate man named Burton Immens in Arlington VT.  He showed us around and we told him we didn’t have a lot of money.  Finally he showed us a small white clapboard house with green shingled roof.  It had no water supply, no furnace, a kitchen with nothing in it and an upstairs with two small bedrooms.  It did have a small cellar with an earth floor and there was a stone chimney outside of the kitchen.  The sunken living room had a hard wood smooth floor and 4 windows and a door leading out on a sheltered porch.  From there, one could see a small well-built Finnish Sauna by a gurgling brook that ran through the 42 acres that went with the house.

 

We asked Mr. Immens, “How much money are they asking for the Murray Hollow House in Shushan?”  He said $4,000.  We said, “We haven’t got that much, and no prospect of a job up here where I am unknown.”  He said, “I think you are a nice young couple, so I’m going to ask them if they will come down to $3,500.”  He did ask and they agreed.  We accepted that figure and bought the house!

 

I went to a bank in Bennington, and met Mr. Jones, who trusted me on sight.  We had $1,750 (½ down) and the other $1,750 would be our mortgage to be paid off in 10 years at $18.56 per month!

 

Whoopi!  We now owned a house and 42 acres with a brook and sauna I dreamed of making into an art studio.

 

To Write About What Is!

 

(Entry datedSeptember 11th, 2011; Page 20 of hand written memoirs)

 

This is the 10th anniversary of 9/11 of the horrendous attack by terrorists on our beautiful, strong, powerful, kind and generous America.  The Twin Towers were brought down by two American jetliners, flown by terrorists, one plane into each tower.  What a burning holocaust!  Another plane (flight # 77) crashed into the Pentagon and a 3rd plane (flight # 93) was taken over by brave passengers, going down in a field in Pennsylvania, saving the demolition of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

 

The memory of seeing this really happening on TV was horrendous and real enough but, tonight we saw people on 60 Minutes who were police men & women, firemen and workers who were there and helping to save lives, risking their own lives and their own health (on-going).  Their stories were taken on tape by a doctor who believed if he could help them talk about their memories, it would help them to sleep better, but 9/11 would never go away completely in their daily memory.

 

They said that because of 9/11, America has lost the sense of security and safety we always had, and now we must be more vigilant and watchful.  We must report any suspicious actions that could lead to arrest. 

 

I believe if we all, as Americans, turned back to a strong belief and faith in God, and His son Jesus, who is the same yesterday today and forever, and we repented and followed God’s Word and the Holy Spirit, He, God, would forgive us, and restore His blessings on America. 

 

The “House” in Murray Hollow

 

(Entry dated September 11, 2011; Page 21 of hand written memoirs)

 

Anyone else would have shied away from a house with no water, no bathroom, no furnace, no kitchen stove; however there was an outhouse 50’ away!  One good thing – we did have good electricity.  The wires carrying 40,000 volts hung right over our property – another story about that later…  We had a two burner electric stove for cooking. On one trip up to the house I drove up with a big square kerosene stove that dad gave me.  It had been used earlier in the Buick showroom where dad worked as a salesman.

 

I was alone that trip.  I hooked up the kerosene heater and put the vent pipe in the opening in the stone chimney (back of the kitchen). I filled it with kerosene and lighted it.  The blue flame was warm and comforting.  I opened one of the windows – it was stiff but stayed open as I wanted fresh air to counteract the heater.

 

There were no street lights and there was no moon or stars – a really black night.  I was 200 miles north of my lovely wife and baby daughter Dianne.  There was no chair or bed or table in the place.  I thought, are we making a big mistake buying a house on 42 acres and a brook?  It’s so dark and lonely here!  So, I spread a blanket on the wooden kitchen floor and kept all of my clothes on and lay down for a fitful sleep, which was not coming easily.

 

About 3 A.M. that stuck window gave way and slammed down so hard, it sounded like the crack of a rifle.  The hair stood up on the back of my neck.  Will we ever get used to living here?

 

 (Entry dated September 11, 2011; page 21A of handwritten memoirs)

 

The “House” in Murray Hollow continued…

 

I thought to myself – God would not have encouraged us to move this far away from family and friends if he had purposes we had not even dreamed of.  He sometimes makes things difficult and hard to build character and strengthen a person or a family.

 

I resolved to not give up but to work to make this home livable with all the necessities that make life worth living.

 

The next few stories will speak of how really wonderful people are who are willing to help you when you are sincere and doing all you can to help yourself with God’s help and his encouragement.

 

Fall of 1952 –

 

The next day after I had installed the kerosene heater, I cleaned the beautiful hard wood floor and painted it with a jar of shellac Bill had given me.  When I left to go back home I thought to myself, my dear wonderful wife will be thrilled to see how shiny and beautiful our sunken living room floor looks!!

 

However, the nest trip up with Lorraine and Little DeeDee to the house; she exclaimed, “How wonderful the floor looks!”  She stepped down on the floor and when she took a second step her shoe stuck to the very tacky shellac!  It was old shellac and never dried!  Bill did give it generously in good faith but wait till you read what happened next –

 

(Entry dated September 11, 2011; Page 22 of handwritten memoirs)

 

The “House” Continued

 

I tried to wipe up the shellac with rags and alcohol, but it only made a smeary mess.  What Next?  I went to Cambridge 6 miles away – to Rubino’s Hardware Store and rented a heavy sander and lots of sandpaper.  It was the answer – shooting shellac balls against the wall.  Finally the floor was clean and dry and renewed!

 

It was now dusk and I had to return the sanding machine that night.  Lorraine was all alone!  She grabbed the ice pick from the old ice box and sat at the front of the stairs guarding our little daughter.

 

When I returned home, she said, “Don’t ever leave me alone at night again!”  But that was only temporary, because after we moved up there June 1953 with our washer and sleeper couch and beds, we all felt very comfortable and safe in Murray Hollow.

 

I did brick around the spring on the mountain side and built a reservoir that held 800 gallons of spring water using Hemlock planks.  Harry Lincoln advised me about that.

 

Would I be able to dig a 4’ deep trench all the way hundreds of feet thru the brook and to the house before fall?  Some friends I worked with painting houses for John Mable in Arlington, VT heard about my dilemma and came to my rescue with a back hoe and dug the rest of the way and made two cesspools, one in front for bathroom to come (we had an outhouse) and Lorraine, bless her had to wash diapers in a pail down at the brook.

 

(Entry dated September 26, 2011; page 23 of handwritten memoirs)

 

The “House” continued

 

It was now September 1953 and Fall was coming soon.  However, God is so good and provides so well!  Lorraine’s father Trygve and her cousin jimmy came up with plumbing tools and installed a bathroom with toilet, shower and small basin in the small area leading thru a door to the cellar stairs.  Ray Degala and I spent a weekend before we moved up and we built a wall with a door to the new bathroom.  Now we did not have to go outside to the outhouse!

 

One of the men working with me had a father who was a plumber.  He removed a coal or wood burning furnace form a large house he was installing a new oil burner in.  He said we could buy the old furnace for $75.00 and he would install it!!  I watched him cement the flue pipes to the stone chimney.  Now we had hot air heat for the coming winter!  I could cut wood (a two man saw) with my lovely Norwegian wife at the other end of the saw.  Also, later we burned coal.  One of the ladies donated a 3 burner gas stove, and a Happy Cooking friend came and hooked up a tank of propane.  Now we could cook on a gas stove.  Our washing machine was hooked up next to the sink and we had a hot water heater installed in a corner of the cellar.  The old “ice box” had a round pan that filled with water every day from the block of ice I bought for 25¢.  If I forgot to empty it in the sink, it would overflow and run down the slightly pitched floor.  I fixed that problem!  I drilled a half inch hole in the floor and attached a rubber hose thru the hole to drip on the earth floors!  That solved the problem of a wet kitchen floor!

 

 (Entry dated October 1, 2011; page 24 handwritten memoirs)

 

The “House” Continued…

 

During the summer I painted houses with a 4” house painting brush, and climbing extension ladders to the peak of old Vermont houses.  Guess whose house was the very first one I painted?  Right – Mr. Burton Immens’ House!  Since he recommended me his house was used to test how well I could paint!  Thank God, I had painted at home with oil and acrylic paints and knew how to sand the surface work the paint in and level off the paint with a smooth even stroke.  Everyone was pleased with my first house painted.  That summer I painted Dorothy Canfield Fisher’s kitchen.  When doing the kitchen windows she watched and the said “Wherever did you learn to paint windows so neatly without touching the glass?”  She was surprised when I told her honestly, “My mother taught me.”  By this time I had a partner, Nick, who was a good worker and a great help.  We painted houses of some famous people like Vic Donahue and John Atherton, both artists.  John’s house was on Rte 313 leading into Arlington. My salary was $1.25 per hour.

 

When the family came up, they thought we looked great!  The sun, the country air and the work agreed with us.  Lorraine pushed the old reel type mower with me in the thick grass.  She loved the country!  We had a vegetable garden, Emery helped me build a barn!  It saved a baby’s life!  He couldn’t drink cows’ milk!

 

Speaking of babies, I confided in Nick, “We’re expecting a baby by next June.  How exciting!”

 

 (Entry dated October 1, 2011; page 25 of handwritten memoirs)

 

The “House” Continued…

 

In October 1953 John Moore tapped old Tobacco out of his pipe, and announced, “Well Dick, the painting season’s over and I’m going to have to let you go.”  I thanked him for giving me a job from June til October.  What’s next?  It was scary to be out of a job and feel strong responsibility for others dependent on you.

 

In Walloomsac, NY, Columbia Dry Board was opening up an old paper mill to produce a heavy grey box board.  I went down there and was accepted in the maintenance dept.  That meant doing everything and anything from sweeping floors, to building wooded skids to hold different size paper, to painting the Clark fork lift trucks, or reading temperatures of 60 dryer rollers that were over  300°F under an aluminum hood with a narrow steel walkway.  It was dangerous as were the hydro-pulpers that swirled and mixed boiling hot paper and liquid to make the pulp.  I had a finger slit by a machine that cut larger rolls into narrow rolls.  The guides let loose and slammed down on the axle I was holding in place to get adjusted.  As I was driven to the only doctor in town I thought – this is the end of my violin playing – The doctor came back from the bank to his office and scrubbed the split middle finger with naphtha soap and hot water.  He took a curved needle and pushed it right thru the nail and the other part of the split and pulled the thread tight.  No anesthesia, no Novocain.  I thought I would go thru the roof with sharp pain!

 

Near Death Experience & The House continued

 

(Entry dated October 1st, 2011; Page 26 of hand written memoirs)

 

That was a tough winter working in the paper mill!  One time I worked 3 shifts building 3 skids per hour in a freezing room (no heat) using a cross cut saw, wooden boards, common nails & a hammer (24 hours straight – no stopping).  The afternoon shift guy and the night guy did not show up!

 

Lorraine’s new pregnancy was really beginning to show, a really big strong baby was developing.  I was transferred to the laboratory which was better; mixing colors, checking machines and keeping records.  And one of my friends in the mill gave me a small Admiral television, since he bought a new one.  However, it needed an aerial to bring in the picture.  By now it was late May and Lorraine could have our second child any week now!

 

Her parents, Trygva and Anne, drove up from Fort Lee bringing a TV aerial for our little TV set.  How kind of them!  Dad and I attached the aerial to the long 2” water pipe and we started to raise it thinking we had to go high because we were in a valley.  I had my right foot against the base and pulled up with both hands as Dad Olsen pushed it. 

 

All of a sudden, I felt a powerful surge of electricity coming down that pipe.  I could not open my hands or let go!  My left foot hurt!  Dad, being an electrician, hit the pipe with his hand, knocking the pipe and aerial to the ground!  I was released and fell to the ground.  Lorraine screamed and thought I was electrocuted with 40,000 volts overhead!  She almost had little Ricky right then. I was conscious and I took my shoe off.  My sock was smoking, holes burned in it where every nail in the sole of the shoe was.

 

 (Entry dated October 3rd, 2011; Page 27 of hand written memoirs)

 

Lorraine, caring and loving wife that she is, said, “I wish you would call Dr. Cole and ask him if there is anything you should do following such an experience.”  So, I called Dr. Cole and told him what happened.  He said, “Are you talking to me, Dick?”  I said, “Yes, I am.”  The he said, “Then you haven’t had it, brother, just mix a strong drink and forget it.”

 

So, following the doctor’s orders, Dad Olsen drove quickly to the Cambridge Liquor Store and bought a pint of Seagram’s 7.  He poured out 4 ounces and said, “Here, drink this son.”  After downing that, I was feeling no pain!

 

The ironic part of the aerial was that it worked perfectly at a 6 foot height at the corner of the house!

 

We lived in the Murray Hollow house from June 1953 until 1961 of October.

 

We had a horse in the back of the barn, and as many as 17 goats, chickens and a vegetable garden.  One day the goats got out and cleaned up a row of peas about ready to pick.

 

We loved the life in the country!  Ricky, a strong healthy baby, was born June 6th, 1954.  I was working in the mill in the lab.  In 1955 I saw an ad in the paper for a receiver and shipping foreman at Asgrow Seed Co.  I was accepted at $1.25 an hour.  I worked with my crew unloading 100 lb bags of Mexican Blue grass seed from freight cars on the siding and trailer trucks at the main building.  I did do art work for the Co. at home, so they knew I was an artist.  After two years in Asgrow, God opened a door and closed another.

 

The Big Break!

 

(Entry dated October 18th, 2011; Page 28 of hand written memoirs)

 

Evelyne Hayes was a wonderful middle-aged lady who had many years of work at Asgrow and knew all of the people and jobs.  She was my secretary and did the typing for the shipping and receiving. 

 

One day John Lylis, the plant manager, came over to chat with Evelyne.  He said, “I’m the president of the Board of Education, and Albany has been after us to hire an art teacher, since we have been 1 year without one.”  Evelyne spoke up with 3 short words, “What about Dick?”  John said, “Why not.” and then he turned to me and told me to send for my transcripts from Cooper Union Art Institute.  He said he would do his part and I was to do my part.

 

In a few days, I had my transcripts and five letters from Art Directors I had worked with, and I was on my way to Albany to the Bureau of Certification to meet with Isabell Sullivan. She looked over my transcripts and read the letters of introduction and said simply, “You can teach.”  Three words!  She went on, “However, you will have to take academic courses and some art courses like, Stage Craft, Home Planning and Costume Design.  The academic courses included some like Nutrition and Health, English, the Civil War, Biological Science, etc.  in all I made 60 college credits for the Bachelor of Science and they added 30 more credits for the Master’s degree.  I went to night colleges in North Adams, Adirondack College and Albany while I was teaching and spent 13 summers in New York City at Columbia Teachers College (taking 6 or 8 credits).  The night courses during the school year were matriculated at Columbia Teachers College in New York City. 

 

God was so good to open doors and shut others, Praise Him!  In two weeks I went from Asgrow to Cambridge Central School!

 

Teaching Art at Cambridge Central School

 

(Entry dated December 29th, 2011; Page 29 of hand written memoirs)

 

I was new at teaching art.  They gave me every class from kindergarten up to 8th grade and a Senior High class, called “Basic Art” that was later called “Studio In Art”.  Mr. Bowler, the Principal, liked my work and would ask me to letter special posters for school proms, or help decorate the gym for a Senior Prom.   I was willing and eager to please and build a good reputation and good relationship with students and teachers.

 

Fortunately, I had 10 years teaching piano to about 15 students on Saturdays, and that developed patience (I always went for a horseback ride afterwards!).

 

All the teachers at Cambridge were very helpful to me – bringing me ideas for art projects – such as American Geography.  The kids and I enlarged each state with a projector and painted a map of all the United States 30 feet wide with white gleaming traffic paint on the black macadam in the parking lot.  Those were 5th graders.  The 8th graders made a 10 foot totem pole in 2 foot sections with chicken wire and paper mâché.  The top section was an Eagle with the wing spans made of plywood and painted.

 

At Christmas time my senior class of about 15 students would make stained glass windows with black paper and colored cellophane to cover the six big glass windows in the front of the school.  Back then, in the 50’s and 60’s, we could represent Mary and baby Jesus and letter in old English “HE IS BORN”.  Mr. Skinner set up a light behind the stained glass effect so it glowed at night like a lighted church window.

 

(Entry undated, update on Rick’s surgery, Page 29A of the hand written memoirs)

 

Rick had his left knee replaced with titanium and he definitely walked better, even though there was arthritis in his right knee, wrists and back.  On December 12th, 2011 he had a hip replacement.  He had to use 2 canes.  He healed quickly.  By December 25th and 26th he was walking freely – no canes and allowed to drive by December 28th, 2011.

 

(Page 29A at this point dated December 17th, 2012; page 29A of hand written memoirs)

 

Rick had his right knee done as above on December 17th, 2012.  Now in mid-January, 2013, he is walking without a cane and driving.

 

Teaching Art at Cambridge Central (continued)

 

(Entry dated December 30, 2011; page 30 of the hand written memoirs)

 

Some real life situations that happen in the class room are more touching or even funnier than made up stories.  For example:

 

Steve was an adopted boy.  He was a head taller than any of his 4th grade classmates.  As they enter my art room, Steve was at the back of the line, red faced and visibly crying.  I put my arm around his shoulders, and asked, “Steve, why are you crying?”  And he sobbed, “Because nobody loves me.” I said, “Oh Steve, I don’t believe that, let’s ask the class.”  So, I called the class to attention, and asked them, “How many of you love Steve?”  It looked unanimous – it seemed every hand was raised and waving.  Steve looked around thru tear stained eyes and shouted, “There is one who hasn’t got his hand up!”

 

Steve is now grown up, over 6 feet tall, married happily with two children.  He drives a huge lumber truck loaded with logs. 

 

In another incident, a 6th grade boy wanted me to letter on tracing paper the brand name of his motorcycle.  To make sure, I said, “how do you spell Kawasaki?”  He said, “I’m not sure.”  So, I asked a kindergarten teacher going by with her class of little 5 year olds to the library to look it up for me.  One little bright-eyed kindergarten boy looked up at me and said cheerfully, “If you can’t spell Kawasaki, just put down Honda.  I can spell that!”

 

Out of the mouths of babes, he had a solution that would solve the problem! 

 

End of Memoirs

Obituary

October 20, 2016

Artist, Richard Evans Dawson, JR. of Shushan, New York, passed away quietly at home on September 9th, 2016 at the age of 96.  Born on November 30th, 1919 in Bergenfield, New Jersey, his life was devoted to serving and teaching others in the most creative ways.

Many of you reading this will remember him as your beloved Art teacher, Mr. Dawson, at the Cambridge Central School between 1957 and 1977.  Others will remember him as their beloved Elder at the Coila Church, going around with his black lights doing “Chalk Talks” to inspire young people from near and far.  His art work has been admired around town for many years, and the sweet sound of his violin or piano could often be heard in church.  Among his many accomplishments, such as woodworking, gardening, cooking, driving for 80 years with only one traffic ticket to his name….Wow…is the fact that he truly was a man without guile. 

Richard is survived by his dear wife Lorraine, who is now 90 years of age.  For the last two years of their 65 years of marriage, Lorraine has suffered quietly from dementia.  He lovingly cared for her every need almost single-handedly.  Also, he is survived by daughter Dianne [Dee Dee] Dawson and son Richard [Rick] Dawson.  Dianne has three sons; Dawson Cooper, Travis Cooper, and Braden Cooper. Rick has four sons; Brooks Dawson, Greg Dawson, Adrien Dawson, and Seth Dawson.  Imagine seven grandsons!  Dawson and wife Nicole have a daughter and two sons; Gabriella, Max, and Dominique.  Travis and wife Michelle have a daughter and a son; Ryan and Beau.  Five great grandchildren! 

A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR MR. DAWSON will be held at the Coila Church in Cambridge, NY on Sunday, October 30, 2016 at 2:00 PM for all whose lives have been touched by him.

Over the years, Mr. Dawson wrote his memoirs which are a delightful read and available in the ‘His Life’ tab of his memorial website: www.richardedawson.com

You may also download or print a full copy of the memoirs, complete with pictures, here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0Bxh836Mwl38fMzRHb1hPR3ZaWEk?usp=sharing

Please come and share your stories too!!  You may also download a full copy of the memoirs, complete with pictures, here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0Bxh836Mwl38fMzRHb1hPR3ZaWEk?usp=sharing