A memorial service for Joan Dawson, 96, of Wallingford, will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, April 27, 2024, at the Henry-Olson Funeral Chapel in Estherville with Pastor Fred Dyhkhuizen officiating. Interment will be at High Lake Cemetery, Wallingford. Joan passed away on April 7, 2024, at the Good Samaritan Society in Estherville.
Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the funeral chapel in Estherville.
Joan Dayle Dawson, the daughter of Harold Leslie Eugene and Prudence Irene (Abrahamson) Tolander, was born on August 12, 1927, in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Joan’s mother died when she was seven and her father married Ruth Peterson.
Joan graduated from Olds High School and earned her bachelor’s degree in Home Economics from Iowa State University. After graduating from Iowa State, Joan worked at the Quadrangle at the University of Iowa where she met Dr. Robert J. Dawson. Joan and Robert married on August 12, 1950, and had four sons; Jerry, Bill, Harold, and Steven. The family settled in the Graettinger and Wallingford area, building a house on Ingham Lake. After Joan and Robert divorced, Joan went back to school at Mankato State to obtain her teaching certificate and then taught Home Economics at Graettinger High School for eight years. Thereafter, she was a dietitian at the Estherville Middle School for 13 years until her retirement.
Joan was a member of Bethel Lutheran Church in Graettinger, the Bethel Lutheran Women’s Auxiliary, the American Legion Auxiliary, and the Holy Family Hospital Auxiliary. In her free time, she always loved being outside and living in her home on Ingham Lake where she lived for fifty years. She especially loved walking and watching all of the wildlife. She also enjoyed quilting at church, sewing, reading, watching television, and cooking.
She is survived by her sons, Dr. Jerry D. (Bette) Dawson of Rochester, MN, Harold D. (Lizelle) Dawson of Peoria, AZ, and Dr. Steven M. (Tia) Dawson of Kirkland, WA; five grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, three step-grandchildren, seven step-great-grandchildren, and her two brothers, William (Marjorie) Tolander and Wayne (Nancy) Tolander.
Joan is preceded in death by her ex-husband, Dr. Robert J. Dawson, her son, William G. Dawson, her parents, Harold Leslie Eugene and Prudence (Abrahamson) Tolander, her stepmother, Ruth (Peterson) Tolander, and her sisters, Donna Rae Zuk and Louise Elaine Unkrich.
Blessed be her memory.
Memorials should be sent to Avera Holy Family Hospice, 826 N. Eighth Street, Estherville, IA 51334 or Ingham Okoboji Lutheran Bible Camp, 1203 Inwan St, Milford, IA 51351
www.henryolsonfuneral.com
