Beverly Stokes Dawson

Beverly Stokes (“Bev”) Dawson

Beverly Stokes was born on February 24, 1947, in Shreveport, Louisiana, to Maribess Temple Stokes and Everette L. Stokes.

Bev and her parents hailed from Louisiana, but got to Texas as soon as they could.  Early on, she and her family tolerated two moves.  Her father’s employer moved them first to Mississippi and next to Florida, before they gladly returned to Shreveport.  In 1965 Bev graduated from Shreveport’s Byrd High School.

After one year at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana, Bev transferred to Louisiana State University (LSU), her father’s alma mater, in Baton Rouge.  There she majored in Business Education and affiliated with Kappa Delta sorority.  One semester before completing her studies, Bev accepted the proposal of marriage from Joseph G. “Chip” Dawson.  The couple wed on January 25, 1969, at Broadmoor Baptist Church in Shreveport.  Bev graduated from LSU that spring.  Soon, Bev’s parents moved to Houston, Texas.

During 1970-1971, Bev accompanied Chip when he went on active duty in the U.S. Army.  Having lived most of her life in the Deep South, Bev traveled across several states during the next two years.  As an Army wife, Bev supported Chip as he completed officer basic courses at the Armor School, Fort Knox, KY (where they rented a trailer in an off-post trailer court), and the Intelligence School, Fort Holabird, MD (where they rented a basement efficiency apartment).  Chip was then assigned to the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, KS.  They resided in a comfortable apartment in Junction City, near the fort.  Bev shopped for Kansas antiques and shared many cups of coffee with another army wife next door, who was from Vermont.  With military service completed, the couple returned to Baton Rouge, where Chip enrolled in graduate studies.

Bev and Chip had two children, Ashley Lois, a graduate of Baylor University, and Joseph Everette (“Jed”), a graduate of South Plains College and an alumnus of Texas Tech University.

Over the years, Bev worked at several jobs before and during the years that she raised her family.  At LSU she was the secretary for the chief administrator responsible for maintaining the campus buildings and grounds.  In Eunice, Louisiana, Bev instructed senior students at St. Edmund’s High School.  She joked about “being as big as a house” by the spring; Ashley was born two weeks after the semester ended.  In College Station, Bev devoted herself as a teacher of 3-year old students at Covenant Presbyterian Day School, located for many years on Church Street in the Northgate area.  The school later moved near Rock Prairie Road.  She taught at the school for 22 years.  Bev also worked part-time as a realtor’s assistant in the office of Beale Century 21.

At Covenant Day School, Bev maintained daily lesson plans and clear educational goals.  Covenant consistently attracted diverse students, including children of A&M graduate students from several countries, including ones from Asia and Europe.  Some of the kids in Bev’s classes spoke little or no English when they enrolled.  The parents joked that no matter what country their family was from, after a year in Bev’s classes the children spoke English with a Louisiana accent.

Bev retired from teaching in 2012, just before she accompanied Chip when he accepted a one-year Visiting Professorship at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.  The couple packed their SUV with clothes and books, and drove through several states to reach New York.  They resided on the Academy grounds in a third floor walk-up apartment that was little changed from when it was built a century earlier.  Washers and driers were located four floors down in the basement.

In Bryan-College Station Bev valued her participation in various groups, formal and informal.  Highly valuable to Bev was her long-time devotion to First Baptist Church, College Station, and her many friends there.  Bev helped to establish the Kappa Delta Sorority chapter at Texas A&M University.  She supported the sorority for several years while serving on the chapter’s Alumnae Advisory Board along with KD alumnae from various other colleges.  Another group of friends often played board games and dined together at Los Cucos.

Bev is survived by her mother-in-law, Susan H. Dawson of Baton Rouge; husband Chip Dawson; sister and brother-in-law, Susan and Steele Rolston, of Mandeville, Louisiana; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Stephanie and Nelson Abell, of Monroe, LA; daughter and son-in-law, Ashley and Zachary Oliphant, and grandsons Kane and Haden and granddaughter Emery Oliphant, of Houston; son and daughter-in-law, Jed and Marissa Dawson and grandson Everette, of Fort Worth; and nieces and nephews in Michigan, Maryland, Colorado, and Louisiana.

A graveside service will be held at Memorial Cemetery of college station on March 3, 2021 at 2:00pm

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Rett Syndrome Foundation at www.rettsyndrome.org