Doug Lawson

A Club Springs Community resident, Mr. Doug Lawson, was pronounced deceased at 9:45 a.m. Monday morning October 27, 2025 at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville where he was flown by LifeFlight on Sunday afternoon after suffering an aneurysm at his Bellar Hollow Road farm home. Mr. Lawson was 78.
Graveside services will be conducted by his friend and neighbor, Bro. Donny Payne, on Friday afternoon October 31st at 1 p.m. Burial with military honors by the American Legion Post #57 in Carthage will follow on the family farm beside his wife, Cheryl.
The Lawson family will have a public visitation at Sanderson in Carthage on Thursday afternoon October 30th from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. and again on Friday October 31st for the public beginning at 9 a.m.
Born William Douglas Lawson in Nashville on February 21, 1947, he was the son of the late William Marshall Lawson who died at the age of 81 on December 28, 1988 and Esther Azalee Stricklind Lawson who died at the age of 96 in 2015.
Following high school Mr. Lawson became an inductee of the United States Air Force, serving during the Vietnam era in California and being discharged with the rank of Staff Sergent.
There he met his future wife, Santa Clarita, California resident and Los Angeles native, the former Cheryl Lee Bello. They were united in marriage at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California on March 23, 1968. She preceded him in death on February 22, 2024 at the age of 75, a month shy of their fifty-six years of marriage.
The Lawson family relocated to Smith County from California in 1994 following Mr. Lawson's sale of Lawson Trucking Company, which he was owner from 1973 until 1994.
He began employment with the Tom Arnold Constrution Company in 1995 as a mechanic for Mr. Arnold's fleet of trucks.
He also joined the forks River Fire Department where he was active and a gifted mechanic to keep the fire units operational. He also served as the department's treasurer.
He was a trained fireman having served as a member of the Grass Valey, California Fire Department from 1978 thru 1994.MR.
Lawson so enjoyed working outside on his farm and working with old vehicles and farm tractors.
Nothing gave him greater pleasure than playing with his grandkids.
Mr. Lawson was a non-denominational Christian.
He is survived by a daughter, Kathryn Marshall Lawson West of Club Springs, Michael Brian Lawson and wife Ranee of Grass Valley, California; five grandchildren, Cody Lawson and wife Sydney, Colby Lawson, Bailey Lawson, Bailey Lawson, Will George, and Everett West; one great-grandchild, Avery Lawson; sister, Carolyn Floyd of Huntsville, Alabama.
The Lawson family has requested memorials to the Forks River Fire Department.
PALLBEARERS: Jerry Solomine, Terry Fields, Nthan Herron, Joh Cone, Will George, Brian Lawson,
Kyle West, and Everett West.