Eugene “Gene” Dawson didn’t believe growing up poor in the Depression should determine his life.
And it didn’t. The minister-turned- academic became president of Colorado Woman’s College in Denver and later president of the University of Redlands in California.
Dawson died May 29 at his Estes Park home. He was 88.
A memorial is planned at 1:30 p.m. June 20 at Whatley Chapel on the former CWC campus at East 17th Avenue and Pontiac Street.
During his tenure at CWC, Dawson took the school from what was considered a “finishing school” to a four-year college, using a $12 million fund drive to enlarge the campus by building the Houston Fine Arts Center, Whatley Chapel and two dormitories. Eventually Denver architect Temple Buell gave the school $25 million and the trustees changed the name to Temple Buell College.
Dawson told The Denver Post in 1965: “Our women are well-groomed, well-mannered young ladies. What we want to do is provide them with a quality education too.”
The school became part of the University of Denver in 1982.
Dawson was active in many civic areas, including the United Negro College Fund, the Mayor’s Commission on Human Relations, the Central YMCA and Rotary.
Dawson was a true believer in the Horatio Alger story – you can accomplish anything you set your mind to, his children said.
He showed that tendency early, when he was a cheerleader at an Abilene, Kan., high school and spotted a girl he wanted to date.
Once he yelled her name, Arlene Clark, through the megaphone during a football game, and another time he threw small pieces of gravel at her. She was embarrassed, laughed their daughter LoLita Dawson Pfeiffer, but interested.
Dawson died just days short of their 70th anniversary.
He was just as determined when entering Harvard University, though he didn’t have a place to sleep. After a few nights on park benches, he got help finding an apartment from the local American Baptist office.
Dawson was a dedicated student all his life, never, ever reading fiction (he liked theology), said daughter Pfeiffer, who lives in Midland, Mich.
He was just as dedicated at tennis.
Tennis “was a lifesaver” for him, said daughter Deborah Dawson Thomas of Denver. The activity was good for his rheumatoid arthritis, she said.
“He was never one to back down from a good fight,” said his wife, Arlene Dawson, whether it was on the court or fighting for housing rights of minorities in Denver.
Dawson wanted his children to see the country, and eventually the family visited 48 states.
“We had quite a set of parents to be able to put up with five kids and a dog on those long road trips,” Thomas said.
Eugene Dawson went further – he “adopted” at-risk boys through Denver Boys Inc. and took them to baseball games or to his home for family barbecues.
He loved to have political and other discussions at the dinner table, said his son Edward Dawson of Gold Hill.
“He’d always take the opposite view, and sometimes it could be annoying and infuriating,” he said, adding that he thinks his father wanted to stimulate his children’s thinking.
Eugene Ellsworth Dawson was born Jan. 23, 1917, in Kansas City, Kan., and earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from what is now Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kan. He earned his ministerial degree at Harvard Divinity School, then a Ph.D. in psychology from Boston University.
An American Baptist minister, he served churches in Altamont and Pittsburg, Kan., and Salem and Lynn, Mass. He taught psychology of religion and comparative religions and was an administrator at Pittsburg State University before becoming president of Colorado Woman’s College in 1957. After 13 years, he moved to Redlands.
In addition to his wife, son and daughters, he is survived by two other sons: Brent Clark Dawson of Lancaster, Calif., and Eugene Dawson Jr. of Montrose; 14 grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and his sister, Aletha Freeman of Sun City, Calif. He was preceded in death by his son Clark Dawson.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at 303-820-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com.