I learned several lessons

Mom and dad had some help when I was growing up, and that came in the form of Charlie and Effie Dawson. They were a negro couple. Charlie was being discipled by my father, and was at Grace Bible Institute, a small Bible school in South Jersey my father and Mr. Wheatley founded in the early 40s.

Anyway, Charlie Dawson did odd jobs around the house, maintenance type things, and Effie Dawson helped my mom. They babysat us many times when we were little.

Well, the first lesson I learned, early in their "helping" years, was not to use the "N" word. I had heard it at school. I was probably in first or second grade, and I asked Mrs. Dawson if she was a "N" word -- dare I print it on this BLOG without getting flogged by the PC police? Anyway, Mrs. Dawson was so sweet about it, she said, "Well, yes I am." But my mom heard me, and before I knew what was happening I was getting my mouth washed out with soap, after it was slapped and was told never, ever to use that term again. No one asked where I had heard it.

The second lesson I learned, also had to do with Mrs. Dawson. One day, it was hot, sultry, humid, etc., and frankly Mrs. Dawson didn't smell good. I mentioned that she "stunk" and she, again, said, "Well, yes, I imagine I do." Well, once again my mom came to her rescue, slapped me upside the head and told me polite little girls NEVER told anybody they smelled bad. That was something you kept to yourself.

The Dawsons came often to care for us and just to visit. They came to church on rare occasions, as Mr. Dawson was setting up his own church for black folk in Camden, NJ. Mr. Dawson also preached at our church on several occasions. By the time I left Runnemede, both Dawsons had gray hair, and were aging. The last time I saw them was at my mom's funeral.

I remember when I got married Charlie and Effie came to visit us the day before the wedding. They hadn't been around much when I was a teenager, since Charlie had his own ministry. Anyway, they came to give me a wedding gift. I remember to this day that I was sitting at the dining room table, which was piled high with gifts, and I was writing thank you notes, when they came in and presented me with their gift. I opened it then -- we didn't wait until after the wedding to open presents, except those that came to the wedding -- and it was an iron. No one else had given me an iron, and I was pleased, and let them know how thankful I was that I wasn't going to have to buy an iron after the wedding.

I know, I know, I've mentioned that I don't iron, but I did for a couple of years when we were first married. I even ironed Alan's handkerchiefs -- and he has allergies and had lots of handkerchiefs. I gave that up, though, when they came out with permanent press hankies. All those cotton things were replaced real quick. Frankly, as I must digress, since I have never understood why Alan can't use tissues like everyone else. NEVER has he used them, even when I provide them and almost BEG him to use them instead of hankies. I think they're more sanitary and that his colds would go away quicker if he was more sanitary in how he blew his nose and disposed of the runoff.

Below is a short biography I found online (Wheaton's archives) about Charles Dawson. One thing this short bio mentions briefly is that Mr. Dawson was a boxer. He actually boxed Jersey Joe Walcott. So he was a BIG man. Always smiling -- both he and Mrs. Dawson were always smiling, and she was in my mind so very pretty. The article says they had three daughters. I know one was Edie, but I understood that she wasn't theirs by birth, but a girl who they fostered and then adopted, and with whom me and my sister played. Her name was Edie. I have no clue as to who the other girls were. And now, I have absolutely no pictures of the couple.

Charles H. Dawson was born in 1916 in Riverton, NJ to James Henry and Betty James Dawson. His parents had just recently moved to New Jersey from Virginia. Shortly after Dawson's birth the family moved to Camden. He was the second oldest of eight children. Both his parents were devout Christians and the Bible and church attendance played a very important part in the life of the family. James Dawson was a laborer and jack-of-all-trades. Charles also worked from a very young age to help support his family. He was very active in athletics at school and was a boxer and baseball player on an amateur and semi-pro level.
He was born again in 1937 and shortly afterward began attending the New Jersey Bible Training School (later called the Grace Bible Institute), from which he graduated in 1945. At this time he was working at various jobs around Camden. By the mid-1940s he was a shipfitter working at the New York naval yard. Also about this time (1942) he married Effie Robinson, whom he had met in 1940. They had three children, all girls. Dawson was ordained in 1944. Already by that time he had been street preaching and regularly witnessing to his co-workers. He soon became a leader in local jail and prison ministries. In 1947 he was one of the founders of the Afro-American Missionary Crusade, which was created by Montrose Waite and others to provide a means for black American Christians to go to Africa as missionaries. In 1960 Dawson became the pastor of the Broadway Bible Tabernacle in Camden, a post he held until 1982, when he became pastor of the Calvary Tabernacle. He continued in all his other Christian activities. In 1967 he went on an evangelistic tour of Liberia for the AAMC and in 1968 he and Jack Wyrzten led a similar preaching tour in Kenya, Tanzania and the Congo. Dawson continued to travel to Liberia to visit AAMC missionaries and to preach in the 1970s and 1980s.