Sussex-Lannon quarryman J. Dale Dawson dies at 83
One of the great stone barons of Sussex and Lannon, J. Dale Dawson, died Saturday, July 5, 2008, at age 83.
Sussex Sun, Posted: July 9, 2008
One of the great stone barons of Sussex and Lannon, J. Dale Dawson, died Saturday, July 5, 2008, at age 83.
He was the owner of two large stone operations, Lannon Stone Products quarry on Good Hope Road in Lannon and the old Taylor-Turner gravel pit and quarry behind Sussex Plaza in Lisbon and Sussex.
He was born April 17, 1925, in Racine to Virgil and Eva (nee Dale) Dawson, now deceased.
Dale grew up on a farm in Raymond, working there until 1947 when he bought his first dump truck and started hauling gravel. In 1948 he leased some land in Franklin, which is today Franklin Aggregate.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1950 during the Korean War, but was sent to Germany as part of the Occupation Army, rising to the rank of master sergeant. It was there that he met his wife, Gudrun.
He moved to Lannon in 1967 and started Lannon Stone Products, which he chaired until his death. In 1970 he went to Jackson and started Jackson Quarry. In 1973 he bought the Reiske Pit in Richfield.
In 1976, he bought the old Taylor-Turner Gravel Pit off Town Line Road in Lisbon-Sussex, where limestone is also being quarried now underneath the depleted gravel.
All four sites are still operating, according to Dale’s son, James Dawson, with “enough reserves for over a 100 years of operations in the Lannon-Sussex and Jackson locations.”
Dale was a longtime supporter of the Disabled Vets of Wisconsin, Teen Challenge of Milwaukee, Hamilton School District educational enrichment programs, the Sussex Food Pantry, Lannon Lions Club, Lannon Fire Department and the Lannon 75th- anniversary celebration several years ago.
He also helped create Madeline Park, a small neighborhood park on Waukesha Avenue in Sussex, by supplying dirt to fill an old quarry there.
Dawson is survived by his wife, Gudrun; children James Dale “J.D.” (Laurie) and Virgil (Agatha); grandchildren Hans (Bernadette), Eric (Angel) and Heidi Dawson; great-grandchildren Conner and Aurelia; his brothers-in-law, Bill Osmundson and Herman Fischer; and many other relatives, friends and stone industry workers. He is preceded in death by children Elisabeth and Robert, and his sister, Margaret Osmundson.
The family would appreciate memorial contributions to the Disabled Vets of Wisconsin or Teen Challenge of Milwaukee in lieu of flowers.