Ernest Dan Dobson

Family-Placed Obituary

Ernest Dan Dobson Ernest Dan Dobson of Millwood, Va. and McLean, Va. died March 16, 2005. He was 67, and had fought a long, courageous battle with cancer and multiple other illnesses. Dan's family is thankful he is no longer suffering. Dan was born March 1, 1938, in a small house that had neither electricity nor running water, outside Kingston, Oklahoma. Most of his childhood was spent on the SEA ranch outside Ardmore, Okla., where his father, Ernest, managed the ranch for its owners, the Noble family. It was at the SEA where Dan began his life-long love for horses and the cowboy life. He was an accomplished horseman and top hand. Dan attended the University of the South and Oklahoma State University, and was a veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He began his career in the hotel business in Lawrence, Kansas in 1961, and worked for Hilton Hotels through the 1960s in Dallas, Chicago, New Orleans and Washington. In 1971, he left Hilton to become vice-president for conventions and meetings at the National Association of Home Builders, where for several years he produced the world's largest convention and trade show. He left NAHB to form Dobson & Associates, which quickly became one of the country's most successful independent convention and trade show producers, with clients that include the National Cable Television Association. Dan came a long way from the rural poverty of his birth. He used his success to put his children through college, build a family beach house in Corolla, N.C., help his parents, and, finally, to realize a life-long dream by buying a ranch of his own, the LQH Ranch in beautiful Virginia horse country, near the Shenandoah River and the village of Millwood in Clarke County. Dan bred champion cutting horses and had a cow-calf operation at the LQH. He loved the ranch and the surrounding countryside, and was a good steward of the land. Dan took immense pride in bringing his ailing father, who had spent his whole life tending other people's horses and cattle, for visits to the LQH, where he could watch Dan's hands tending horses and cattle owned by a Dobson. Dan also greatly enjoyed showing all the wonders of the LQH to his grandchildren. Dan's first marriage, to Marsha LeGate Slocomb of Boerne, ended in divorce. In 1966, Dan married Deryl Ann Hull, and they were together 39 years. Her strength, perseverance and devotion to Dan during the long, horrible months of his final hospitalization were an inspiration to all who know her. Dan was preceded in death by his parents, Ernest and Effie Dobson, and his son, Sean LeGate Dobson. In addition to his wife Deryl Ann Dobson of McLean, Va., he is survived by his sons, Casey LeGate Dobson and wife Diana of Austin, and Yancy Hull Dobson of Arlington Va.; his daughter, Nicole Mayre Alexander and husband Michael of New York, New York; his grandchildren, Zo and Jack Dobson of Austin and Dan and Will Alexander of New York; his sisters, Rose Baker of Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., and Mayre Brashear and husband Al of Murfreesboro, Tenn.; and numerous nieces and nephews. In accordance with Dan's wishes, his body was cremated, and his ashes will be buried alongside those of his parents at the LQH Ranch, where a private memorial service is planned. The family suggests that those wishing to honor Dan's memory can make a contribution to the America's Horse Cares Program. America's Horse Cares is a program of the American Quarter Horse Association that provides grants for therapeutic riding programs for persons with disabilities. Gifts can be sent to: American Quarter Horse Foundation, P.O. Box 32111, Amarillo, Texas 79120-2111. Please include a note designating your gift for the America's Horse Cares Program, in memory of Dan Dobson.