Leon Lawson went to be with the Lord on Friday, November 6, 2015 after reaching the age of 93 years 9 months. He was born in Tahlequah, OK on February 6, 1922 to Era and Lorantz Lawson. He was a self-employed businessman and a member of the First Baptist Church in Tahlequah. He was a veteran of WWII and the first MP at Fort Chaffee, AR where he patrolled on horseback.
Leon was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Frances, who passed away in 1983, and his wife Minnie Loraine who passed away in 2012; a sister, Louise Motley of Jacksonville, FL and a brother Jewel Lawson of Tahlequah.
He is survived by a loving family which includes his two sons, Don Lawson and wife Judi of Bella Vista, AR, Allen Lawson and wife Janice of Roland, OK, and a daughter, Gail Carlow and husband Jack of Broken Arrow, OK; seven grandchildren Brent Carlow, Colby Carlow, Kurt Lawson, Heather Thomas, Josh Lawson, Chris Lawson and wife Elizabeth of Watertown, MA, and Justin Lawson and wife Melanie of Spiro, OK: twelve great-grandchildren; one sister-in-law Mildred Lawson of Muskogee, OK; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Leon was very active at First Baptist Church, Tahlequah, where he served as a deacon for many years. He taught Sunday school at Sequoyah High School for 20+ years as an outreach of First Baptist and became known as the "joke man" because he started every Sunday school opening exercise with a joke. He also served as the head of the "39's" and drove the church bus for all of their trips and to take the youth to church camp and other activities. When First Baptist was looking to relocate from the old church downtown, Leon was instrumental in helping secure the land for the new church and served on the building committee throughout the initial construction.
In his spare time, what little there was, he liked to fish and golf and as the kids were growing up he was very active in the local rodeo association. He was kind of like Will Rogers in a way that there was no one he met that he did not like until given a reason not to. Dad, Grandpa, and Great-Grandpa is going to be greatly missed.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer's Foundation of America at www.alzfdn.org.
Visits: 3
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the
Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors