Delmar Dawson

      Delmar's Photos

Delmar Darwin Dawson was born on August 10, 1923, in Cozad, Nebraska to Edward Edwin Dawson and Bessie Mae Swartz.

His father, Edward, was 29 and his mother, Bessie, was 30.

He married Pearlie Castle on April 14, 1944, in Crown Point, Indiana. They had five children during their marriage.

He died on May 22, 1970, in Indianapolis, Indiana, at the age of 46, and was buried at Memory Gardens in Rensselaer, Indiana.

During the 1923 drought the crops failed and in 1924 Edward took his family to Canada looking for prosperity. They moved to Vancouver, British Columbia by train. They stopped to look at the Redwoods on the way.

The Red Woods Museum

Since they were traveling by train, they were able to only take a few belongings. Bessie had carefully packed her china and was deeply saddened when it was damaged during the trip. Archie Gordon was born in Vancouver, British Columbia 5 May 1925.



Edward worked as a carpenter, while in Vancouver, building houses. When the housing market would slow down Edward cut ice from the Saskatchewan River. The workers would cut chucks of ice out of the river with a hand saw, and then the trains would stop and pick up the ice to keep their ice boxes cold. Bessie stayed home with the children.



Their home was 2 miles from school so the children would ride in a covered wagon. In the wintertime there was a pot bellied stove in the wagon to keep them warm and the children would all have to take turns sitting by the fire.



Bessie would also leave to find work. When the hops where in season she would take the younger children by train to the countryside to go pick hops. Audrey was expected to take care of Delmar and Archie while their mother was working.



Audrey has expressed great frustration that she was always responsible to watch Delmar and Archie. Glenola was always helping her mother and learning how to cook and household chores. Audrey was sent outside with two rowdy boys. During one of their rowdy episodes, she was kicked in the hip by a horse, Trixie. This lead to lifelong pain and eventually a hip replacement.



In warm weather they would walk to school. Delmar was the only first grader and quickly became bored when the teacher in the one room school house had little time for him. He usually would run away and hide in the cornfields until school was out. He obviously was hiding when this photo was taken.



When Ed and Bessie found out he was skipping school they had Dan make sure he went to class. This was usually accomplished by dragging him or kicking him in the behind. until he moved. He was so far behind he was eventually placed in Archie's class when he began school.



The family lived in Rural, Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1935. The family remained in Canada until their returned to the United States in 1937. They returned to the United States on 29 Jul 1937 crossing at International Falls or Ranier, Minnesota.



In 1937, Daniel Swartz had again bought a farm in Rensselaer, Jasper Co., IN. Edward and Bessie returned to help him on the farm. Edward bought adjacent land and opened a small grocery store where they lived until 1947.



In 1938 Delmar and Archie attended Jordon School. Dan finished school in Canada. Glenola, and Audrey graduated from Remington High School.



Delmar played basketball and football while he was in school.

In 1939 Archie graduated from 8th grade. Delmar, still struggling with school, was a year behind.



Ed continued working as a carpenter and was very successful at building houses. He worked on the Jordon school [in background] built in 1938.


In 1940 Delmar went to Rensselaer Central High School

Archie joined the service during World War II on 3 Jul 1943. Delmar wasn't required to serve since he had loss the hearing in his left ear as a child. Delmar was a mechanic. He always wanted to take everything apart and put it back together. His sister, Audrey, was living at home during the war. While her husband was in the service she worked in her parent's grocery store. It was necessary to have a car because she was pregnant and needed transportation to the doctor. Delmar took the car apart and put it back together just to see if he could. His sister was apprehensive about this since she was not so confident in his abilities. The car was put back together and ran wonderfully except she was again distraught when he would use up her gas rationing.

In 1943 Delmar went to Gary to work in the steel mills. He met Pearlie Castle while he was in Rensselaer.They were married in Crown Point, Indiana, on April 14, 1944, when they both were 20 years old. After they were married Delmar quit his job at the steel mill because Pearlie did not want to live in Gary, IN. He moved back to Rensselaer and worked as an auto mechanic until he was hired by the city to work at their power plant.

In 1947 Ed and Bessie moved to a house that he built in Rensselaer. This photo was taken in their home of the Swartz family shortly before Bessie's father Daniel died in 10 Aug 1950.

In 1955 Delmar went to work as an erectional engineer installing turbine generators around the world. While he was working at the light plant, the company who installed a new generator, Fairbanks and Morris, was so impressed by his work they offered him a job.With all his frequent travels his family rarely saw him.

Delmar was a Renaissance man. He learned carpentry from his father and built our family home including the kitchen cabinets. He taught himself whatever interested him. He built and flew his own airplane. When televisions became prevalent he learned how to repair them and started a small repair business. He also taught himself  how to repair watches and anything mechanical. Besides his mechanical abilities, Delmar loved music. He played trombone in his high school band, then played in a swing band as an adult. He also played the saxophone, violin, and organ.

In the late 50s, Edward and Bessie moved to Florida. They would return to Indiana to visit Audrey and Delmar.

Ed and Bessie celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary 27 Mar 1968.



Delmar was full of joy and loved to laugh. This was taken in Florida. His teeth deteriorated after a lifetime of smoking. He always had a cigar or pipe in his mouth. As much as I hate smoking I did enjoy the smell of his pipe smoke. It is how I always remember him. He broke his front tooth eating corn on the cob.

His mother Bessie Mae passed away on March 11, 1969, in Volusia, Florida, at the age of 76.
On April 14, 1969, Delmar and Pearlie celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.

"During one of his infrequent visits home he was at the Rensselaer power plant trying to help them get more power when an accident occurred. The switch on one of the generators that told if the power was on was broken and Dad sliced into a live wire. He knew enough to ground himself to keep from being electrocuted, but the force of all that electricity cause an explosion that completely burned him.

Our home was about 3 miles from the plant and it sound like a bomb went off. The ground shook and the noise echoed in my ears. I was outside and Mom came running out and said Dad was at the power plant. Carol had just got off work and pulled into Audrey's drive when Mom came out. She took us up to the power plant. The road was already pack with cars and people were standing around up and down the sidewalk.

One of the firefighters saw us stuck in traffic outside the plant and came over and told us they took Dad to the emergency room in Rensselaer. He told us to get in his car and he would take us to the hospital. He dropped us off at the ER. When we walked in Dad was pacing in the hallway shaking his arms. His entire body was covered in 3rd degree burns. I was the only child to see this horrendous sight...and haunts me to today.

When Dad saw the look on my face he went back into his room and told the nurse to send me away. There was nothing they could do for him in Rensselaer so they immediately took him to the burn unit in Lafayette. He spent 3 days in the burn unit. All the kids came to the hospital, but he would only let Mom see him after he saw the shock on my face. His kidneys stopped working and they sent him to Indianapolis to be put on dialyzes. He passed away before they could treat him. The doctor didn't even bother to come out and tell us. He called on the phone after he went home." Brenda Dawson

He died on May 22, 1970, in Indianapolis, Indiana, when he was 46 years old, from shock and kidney failure .

He is buried in Memory Gardens, Rensselaer, Jasper Co., IN. The plot is located next to the photo of the last supper.

Sources: Dewey Dawson " The J.E. Dawson Family" Brenda Dawson, Glenola Rogers, Audrey Alexander. Photos scanned by: Larry Alexander and Brenda Dawson.

Delmar's Photos