PORT TOWNSEND — Teacher and author Richard Glaubman last week reminded a group of graduating seniors about their inspirational meeting many years ago with George Dawson, a 101-year-old Texas man who had learned to read at the age of 98.
Glaubman on Thursday spoke to the seniors in Chris Pierson’s English class at Port Townsend High School about writing Life is So Good about Dawson’s life, and the sequel, More Than A Book, Story of Friendship, which tells about what happened after the first book was published.
The story of Dawson’s life, a man born in 1898, covered a century of American history told from the perspective of an uneducated man who had always lived in poverty, yet was grateful for what he had and looked on the good side of life. Dawson died in 2001.
Many were Glaubman’s students when he made the journey from teacher to author.
“It started when you were in fourth grade, and I read that article and shared it with you,” Glaubman told the class, referring to a newspaper story about Dawson.
“Everybody had so many questions,” Glaubman recalled. “What grade is he in? Is he in a class like ours? Does he sit at a desk like ours?’ My favorite was: Does he go out to recess?”
To get the answers, Glaubman phoned the adult education center in Dallas and talked to Dawson’s teacher, who ended the conversation with an invitation to come visit sometime.
Glaubman’s own question — How did Dawson have the courage to start school at the age of 98? — also prompted him to fly to Dallas three weeks later to meet Dawson in person, with the idea of writing a children’s book about him.
When the idea for a children’s book didn’t fly, Glaubman realized he should set down Dawson’s story in his own words.
But he struggled with why he wanted to write about a man who was separated from him by 2,000 miles of geography as well as age, race, background and education.
Then he heard a radio interview of an author who also was a teacher but made time to write.
It reminded him of the saying: “There’s a time in everybody’s life to tell their story and a time in everybody’s life to listen to someone tell their story.”
“He understood, and I came to understand, that it was the time in his life to tell his story,” Glaubman said of Dawson, “and that his time was going to pass without him telling his story.”
Students remember
Among the students listening to Glaubman’s story in the class was Josh Holbrook, 17, who recalled being a part of the welcoming committee when Dawson visited the school, and shaking his hand.
Others recalled sitting on the gym floor for the assembly and looking up at Dawson and marveling about how old he was.
They also remembered receiving a copy of the book and finding it not easy to read.
“I didn’t get the significance of it at the time,” said student Nik Rich. “I was more excited about how old he was. Now I see the meaning of his life, not just his age.”
Now he and the other students who attended the assembly are graduating, but thanks to Glaubman, they take with them Dawson’s example and the truth that Dawson told them seven years ago: “You are never to old to learn.”
Song for Dawson
As fourth-graders, the students wrote a song for Dawson, called “Life is So Good” after Glaubman’s book.
Larry Pepper, the school’s music teacher, wrote the music, with each class composing a verse describing things that Dawson experienced in his childhood — playing shortstop on a baseball team, catching a big catfish with his brother.
“I remember our class verse was about the puppy,” said senior Camille Hardiman.
Because of a head injury suffered during a fall, Dawson lapsed into a coma that lasted several weeks before he died.
When Glaubman visited him in Dallas to say goodbye, he saw that Dawson’s family had put the verses of the song on the walls of his hospice room.
“It meant a lot to them,” Glaubman said.
Glaubman said that, during one of his last visits to Dawson’s house in Dallas, Dawson thanked Glaubman for the gift he had given him.
“I thought he meant the new house,” Glaubman said, referring to what Dawson used his share of royalties to buy.
“He said, ‘You gave me a great gift. You listened.'”
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Port Townsend/Jefferson County reporter-columnist Jennifer Jackson can be reached at jjackson@olypen.com.
