William N. Dawes ’55

ON SEPT. 10, 1992, Bill lost a 15month battle with prostate cancer and died at home in Concord, Mass. With him were his wife of 30 years, Claiborne (Watkins): his son William B. and daughterinlaw Cynthia A.; his daughter Elizabeth D. Nunes and soninlaw William P Nunes; and his much loved niece and nephew from California and Alaska.

Bill was loved and admired by all who knew him, for his goodheartedness and his faith that people were inherently good. He arrived at Princeton in 1951, fresh from football triumphs at North Shore Country Day School in Winnetka, Ill., and was shocked to find no girls and much bigger halfbacks. He joined Colonial Club and was club president his senior year. He majored in philosophy and went on to get his M.B.A. at the Univ. of Chicago. After a stint in the U.S. Air Force, Bill moved to New York and worked in mergers and acquisitions for W. R. Grace and the Singer Corp. But the Big Apple's fierce corporate world was not Bill's style, and in 1966 he moved his family to Concord. There he worked for a solar power company and several sport companies, before finding his perfect job in 1982 at Lincoln Guide Service in Lincoln, Mass., where his devotion to bicycling and nordic skiing made him a great success. In 1987, Bill was nearly killed when a car ran a red light and hit his; he spent ten days in intensive care, and his recovery was largely due to his determination to return to full activity as soon as possible. During this period, he discovered a considerable talent in watercolor painting, which he pursued until the cancer was far advanced. Bill served others through volunteer work at a hospital alcohol dependency unit, and also with a hotline connected to the local mental health association. His family and his legion of friends miss him greatly.

The Class of 1955