Frank Clark Dawson

1934-2025

Frank Clark Dawson passed away on Friday, June 20, 2025 following a brief illness, and after living 90 years of a full and rewarding life.

The son of Frank and Mildred Bradfield Dawson, he was born on September 4, 1934 at East Liverpool City Hospital, on Fifth Street – the street on which he always liked to say he was “born, bred, baptized, did his banking, and worked the only job he ever had” at the Dawson Funeral Home. That story came full circle when he slipped into his eternal rest at the same hospital where his life story began.

He was a proud 1952 graduate of East Liverpool High School. Following his graduation from Baldwin-Wallace College, he served two years with the United States Navy. A member of the First United Methodist Church for his entire life, his faith guided and inspired him to live a life of service to others. His devotion to his beloved Pottertown cannot be measured. His lifelong support of the East Liverpool football program was one of his greatest joys.

Surviving him is “the wind beneath his wings”, his wife of 67 years, Gretchen Beede Dawson, along with their four children: Belinda Dunlap and her husband, Jim; Alisa “CeCe” Graham and her husband, Dr. Thomas Graham; Frank Dike Dawson and his wife, Jennifer, and Clifford Dawson and his wife, Alisa. There are eight grandchildren: Tom Dunlap and his wife, Emma; Amy Dunlap and her husband, Blake Anderson; Margaret Graham, Elizabeth Graham, Frank Alexander Dawson, Preston Dawson, Brady Dawson and Miles Dawson, as well as twin great-grandchildren, Grant and Penny Dunlap. There are two special nephews, Rob and Brad Burbick and their families.

Frank also leaves behind legions of friends whom he considered family, and he was blessed because of each of them.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his sister, Deborah Dawson Burbick.

Those wishing to do so may make contributions to the Upper Ohio Valley Museum and Learning Center, 120 East Fifth Street, East Liverpool 43920 or the ELHS Alumni Association, P.O. Box 2646, East Liverpool, Ohio 43920 — two organizations which were very near and dear to his heart.

Private family services have already been completed.

6-23-24