Sam Dawson

SAM B. DAWSON



Memorial services for Sam Buford Dawson, 66, of Valley View, are set for 2:00 PM Thursday, December 30, 2010 at the Geo. J. Carroll & Son Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Jeff Gore officiating. A visitation will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 PM Wednesday, December 29, 2010 at the funeral home.



Mr. Dawson passed away at his home on December 25, 2010.



Sam was born to a third generation ranching family on January 16, 1944 in San Antonio to Frank and Hazel Butler Dawson. Sam grew up learning the cowboy trade from some of the best Mexican vaqueros in South Texas. He spent several years day-working on ranches in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. After the passing of his father, Sam began ranching in West Texas, over 200 sections from the Dryden/Sanderson area west to Candelaria. He also worked as a steel worker for several years on various construction projects across Texas as well as on the St. Louis Arch.



Mr. Dawson married Penelope (Penny) Mays at Del Rio in 1977. They moved to north Texas in 1983 and subsequently settled in Valley View. Sam and his son Evan started the Cooke County Soccer Association in 1987 and coached boys and girls soccer teams for many years. Sam’s son, Evan, carried on that coaching tradition with his own children.



Sam was an excellent story teller and never had a shortage of people who would listen to his humorous stories from his cowboy days. Several of his stories were published in Cowboy Magazine. His story telling led to a passion for cowboy poetry and he became a favorite reciter of old classic cowboy poems as well as his own poems. Sam has performed his stories and poems at the National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Alpine and several other venues.



Mr. Dawson is survived by his wife Penny, daughter-in-law Brandy Dawson, granddaughters Kaylee and Harley Dawson, sisters Maureen Middlebrook and Nancy Bennet her husband Harold and numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.



Sam is was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Frank and his son Evan.