A lifelong resident of Greensboro, John Thomas (Tom) Dawson Jr. left this world Monday July 20, 2020 in Greensboro, NC after several years of declining health. Tom was born in McComb, Mississippi on March 7, 1931. He was preceded in death by his father Lt. Col. John Thomas Dawson Sr., his mother Esther McGehee Dawson and his daughter-in-law Susan Neiditz Dawson. He is survived by his wife Helen “Snibs” Dawson, children John Thomas “Tom” Dawson III , Carlisle “Chip” Dawson, and Katherine “Cricket” Blaha (David), sister Katherine “Katsy” Dawson Gray, sister-in-law Aquilla Thacker Ruffner (Gary), grandchildren John Dawson (Kristen), Alexandra Dawson, Samantha Dawson, Robert Blaha, William Blaha, and Madeline Blaha and two great grandchildren Jack Dawson and Gracie Dawson.
As a teenager, Tom lived and traveled throughout Europe while his father served with Occupation Forces after WWII. He was a US Army veteran and also served in the Mississippi National Guard and US Marine Corps Reserve. While in the Army he was attached to the 82nd Airborne stationed at Fort Bragg, NC. He trained in Armor and served as a tank commander. In 1948 in Petersburg, VA he met, and in 1951 married, his high school sweetheart Snibs Thacker.
Always the consummate salesman, Tom never met a stranger. He sold lumber, home building products and later, industrial textile products. He eventually started and ran his own textile recycling company for 25 years, becoming affectionately known as the “Tom the Rag Man”. He also was a tax preparer for H&R Block for 30 years.
In the early 1960’s the family vacationed at Long Beach, NC. Long Beach became the yearly family vacation spot, where Tom and other Sunset Hills neighborhood families spent a week every summer crabbing, clamming, and fishing together. Back at home he enjoyed many other memorable activities like staying up all night attending to the yearly Thanksgiving Pig Roast with his best friend Jim Oaster and other special Sunset Hills neighborhood families. He and Snibs later retired to Long Beach.
Tom was an accomplished wood worker who won many blue-ribbon prizes for his carvings at the Guilford County fair. He began carving at an early age and enjoyed working in his wood shop, where he could make nearly anything.
Cooking, running his turkey shoot, beer making, wine making, and playing poker are just a few of the many activities that “sweet ole Tom” loved to do and brought joy and love to all who knew him. He was always a gracious host and especially loved the Holidays and Christmas so he could whip up his family recipe of fresh, homemade Egg Nog and bake his famous country ham biscuits.
The family would like to thank our many friends (family) who have opened up their hearts and homes these past few years and provided extra comfort during these past weeks. We thank Laura and Monroe Gentry, Linda Beam, Clay and Jennifer Melcalfe, Mary Grace Llewellyn, David, John, Mike and Lawty Oaster, for all the love. We are also grateful for the wonderful care Abbotswood LivingWell at Home and Authora Hospice Team provided.
Services will be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in his name be made to Folded Flag Foundation, The Wounded Warrior Project or the American Heart Association. Online condolences may be offered at www.advantagegreensboro.com.
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