Kelley Neil Dawson

Kelley was the younger of two children. He grew up in Portland with his brother Joe and attended local schools. He enjoyed playing soccer, fishing and riding motorcycles. After his high school graduation, Kelley joined the United States Air force so he could follow in the footsteps of his older brother Joe.

He served for 4 years at Edwards Air Force Base in California where he met Miki. On July 15, 1990 they were married and moved back to Portland to be closer to his family. Four years later, on October 24th his daughter Marina was born.

Kelley loved the ocean and was always fascinated with boats, the environment and the Maritime industry. He made his dreams come true by working for Clean Rivers in Portland, Oregon and then expanded his dream and went to work in Alaska as a Project Manager for Alaska Clean Seas working on cleaning up oil spills. His passion for the ocean is what inspired his daughter’s name, Marina, after one of his favorite spots when he lived in California…Marina del Ray.

Kelley loved to spend time with his daughter; they were constantly texting and calling each other about new foods that they would try or something out of the ordinary that they would see at the grocery store. They loved trying new restaurants together and loved going to the grocery store to look for foods they had not tried before. Kelley always prided himself in following his daughter’s passions and dreams. Every year he made it a point to take her to see Cirque du Soleil and sometimes they traveled as far as Las Vegas to catch shows such as the Blue Man Group.

One of Marina’s favorite memories of her father was her birthday “cake”. Their tradition was to take a large brick of cheese, drill holes in it and add candles to create a birthday “cake” in lieu of a traditional cake since neither of them were very fond of sweets. Every year the brick of cheese would change from parmesan to Dubliner to several other flavorful specialty cheeses.

Kelley was very proud of his daughter Marina for attending college and it was his dream to make sure that she completed her education. He was a devoted father, son and brother.

Kelley leaves behind his 21 year old daughter Marina; his Mother Karen Dawson; his father Bill and step-mother Kaye Dawson; his brother Joe Dawson and his wife Heather; as well as many other family members and friends.

A memorial service will be held at 11am on March 19, 2016 at Augustana Lutheran Church, 2710 NE 14th Avenue, Portland, OR 97212. A committal service will begin at 10:30am, Monday, March 21, 2016 in Willamette National Cemetery, 11800 SE Mt. Scott Blvd., Portland, OR 97086.