James Anthony "Jim" Dawson Jr.

1929 - 2015

HADLEY - James "Jim" Anthony Dawson, Jr., son of James and Margaret "Peg" Dawson, died Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015, in his house in Hadley, at the age of 86.

In his early years, James lived with his mother and father and sister Kate "Kitty" in New York, first attending Exeter Academy and then Harvard College. After graduating from college, Jim was stationed for several long and cold months in Greenland during the Korean War.

Upon his return to New York, Jim met, pursued and ultimately persuaded Alexandra "Sandra" DeGhizé Dawson to marry him. They were husband and wife for 54 years, until Sandra passed in 2011. Jim and Sandra had their first child, Rachel, in New York, and then their second and third children, Alex and Adam, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they had moved to be close to Sandra's parents.

Although there were many things that they loved about Santa Fe, in 1962 Jim and Sandra agreed to move their family back east so that Sandra could attend Harvard Law School, a rarity for a woman at that time. Once back east, Jim worked at Raytheon, writing technical manuals explaining how to operate the early computers. Alexandra became a well-known and respected lioness in the environmental legal community.

Jim was deeply intelligent and always well-read. He was known to feign a broguish accent and quote from memory lengthy prose from both well-known and obscure books and authors. Never all that impressed with the education he had received at Exeter or Harvard (or at Northeastern where he subsequently obtained an MBA), Jim was on a constant quest to find "the truth," and along his quest he became knowledgeable about and enamored with Buddhism and its teachings. If given a new electronic device, rather than learn how to use it, Jim was just as likely to take it apart to find out how it worked.

Jim was passionate about the written word, and authored both lengthy books about epic adventures, short stories and lines of verse. He became equally passionate about the outdoors. As their children grew out of diapers, Jim and Sandra would plan lengthy backpacking and canoe trips in the wilderness. Later in life, Jim and Sandra traveled extensively on their own to Africa, New Zealand, Iceland; pretty much anywhere that had a map and an airport was fair game for them. In their 54 years together, they managed to kayak parts of all of the Wild and Scenic Rivers in the United States.

Although reclusive, Jim was a gentle and generous person, who generally gave people (at least if you weren't a politician) the benefit of a doubt. Jim maintained his fierce individuality, living unassisted in his home until he passed.

He is survived by his sister Kitty Rush; daughter Rachel Spring and her son August; sons Alex and Adam, Adam's wife Deborah and their daughter Mariah. We all love Jim, miss him, and hope that he has found his truth.

Memorial contributions may be made in Jim's memory to Amherst Survival Center, www.amherstsurvival.org.

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