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This Tribute was provided by William Lawson
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| Peter J. Lawson 1931-1998 |
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Peter James Lawson
1931 to 1998
Peter James Lawson, died April 3, 1998, of heart failure at the age of 67 at his home in Atlanta, GA. He is survived by a son, William Thomas, and one grandson, William Thomas, Jr., a daughter, Mildred Grace, a sister, Sally Lawson McFadden, and a brother, Joseph Elmer.
Peter was born March 18, 1931, the youngest of 7 children, to Mildred and Walter Lawson of Marietta, Georgia. His father was employed as a mechanic with Hansen's Auto Fixit of Marietta and his mother was a homemaker until the children were grown and then was church secretary for the Faith Baptist Church.
After graduating from Washington High School with honors, Peter attended the University of Iowa on a full scholarship and received a B.A. in Journalism in 1953. He returned to the Atlanta area and was hired as a feature writer/photographer for the Southern Sentinel, a weekly periodical founded in 1941 that featured African-American armed forces personnel in World War II. (Later,the newspaper covered the Korean and Vietnam Wars. After the Vietnam War, the Sentinel focused on regional and national issues relating to the African-American.)
In 1957, the Sentinel hired Eleanor Johnson as a secretary and on September 17, 1959, Peter and Eleanor were married in the Zion United Methodist Church in Atlanta. On July 26, 1966, a son, William Thomas (Will) was born. A daughter, Mildred Grace, known as Gracie, was born on October 13, 1972. Eleanor died during the birth of her daughter and Peter never remarried.
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A milestone in Peter's life was the purchase of a special house in the Atlanta area in 1978 Located on Decatur Avenue, the home was an old Victorian in need of much repair, but Peter had fond memories of this house when it was in its prime. This was one of the addresses on his paper route when Peter was a teenager earning extra money. The owners, Mr. And Mrs. Fisher, were elderly folk and Peter would deliver the paper to the door rather than toss it in the yard.
Many times they would invite him in for iced tea and cookies. Before retiring, Mr. Fisher was an editor with the Atlanta Journal (prior to the merger to become Atlanta Journal-Constitution) and talked to Peter about his experiences working for a newspaper.
This made a lasting impression and fostered Peter's enthusiasm for journalism. After the Fishers died, the property passed through several owners before Peter was able purchase it. To restore the home to its original condition, Peter did much of the work himself and it took over five years to complete
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By the time Southern Sentinel ceased publication in 1983, Peter had garnered many awards for both his features and photographs, one of which is shown below. His article "Those Left Behind", published in 1967, won the coveted Arthur Brockton Prize awarded by The Southeastern American Journalists' Symposium.
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From 1983 to the time of his death, Peter was self-employed as a photographer and writer. His business, Lawson Communications, contracted with area corporations and small businesses alike to produce advertising campaigns, instruction manuals, annual reports, and, his favorite job, CEO and executive portraits.
In July of 1985, Peter lost both his parents, a sister and a grandniece in an auto accident involving a drunk driver. With his inheritance, Peter was able to establish a small trust fund in his parents' names to furnish text books and school supplies to youngsters, survivors of such accidents, when they went to college. To date the fund has awarded over $20,000 to deserving students
In 1990, Will married JoLynne Evans and in February, 1993, William Thomas, Jr., was born. Will is employed by Roland Inc., as an accountant in their corporate tax division.
The University of Iowa was Gracie's choice to follow in her father's footsteps as a writer. While at school, she won several awards for her short stories. After graduation in 1994, Gracie returned to Atlanta where she is currently working on a documentary feature film production. |
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| Zion United Methodist Church |
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Peter was a member of the Zion United Methodist Church and for many years was the Senior High Methodist Youth Fellowship advisor. He also sang baritone with the church choir and performed with the group at many of the Atlanta area churches.
Occasionally, he sang with the Seville Four, a local barbershop quartet.
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During his career, Peter not only photographed executives and material for the vast amount of business print he produced, but also things that interested him. In his leisure time, he pursued his fascination with trains and the people who worked on them by taking thousands of photographs preserving their heritage on the rails across the country.
Will and Gracie are currently compiling a documentation of their father's photographic body of work and hope to publish a book in the near future.
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For the past several years, Peter had been a volunteer with Big Brother/Big Sister of Atlanta. Charlie was Peter's 'little brother' for three years. One of their outings was a visit to the aquarium which impressed Charlie so much that he wants to be a marine biologist when he gets older.
Peter always included Charlie in family celebrations and last year, Charlie joined us when we vacationed in Maine. |
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Peter James Lawson, born March 18, 1931 and died April 3, 1998, is buried at Holy Redeemer Cemetery in Atlanta. He was well known for his lively sense of humor, devotion to his faith, and love of family and friends. The kind of person whose company everyone enjoyed and we'll miss his company very much. |
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