Published: Sunday, December 4, 2011
'Amazing woman' thrived as teacher, coach, role model
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Archbishop Murphy High School photo Dawn Lawrence, a former track coach and teacher at Cascade High School, in her biology class at Archbishop Murphy High School, where she had taught since 2007.
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Archbishop Murphy High School photo Dr. Gail Wellenstein, head of the science department at Archbishop Murphy High School, holds a new plaque naming the schoolþÄôs biology lab in honor of Dawn Lawrence, who taught and coached track at Cascade High School before coming to Archbishop Murphy in 2007.
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Photo courtesy of Paul Lawrence
Dawn Lawrence was a longtime teacher and track coach at Cascade High School. She had taught biology at Archbishop Murphy High School since 2007.
When Dawn Lawrence retired from Cascade High School in 2007, she left with a long list of laurels. She was head of the school's science department. For 20 years, she was girls track coach.
A 1968 graduate of the Everett school, she was the first Cascade alumnus to return to teach there, her husband, Paul Lawrence, said.
Her career didn't end when she left Cascade, which in 2010 inducted her into the Cascade High School Coaches Hall of Fame.
She retired in June 2007. That September, she started a new chapter. She became a biology teacher at Archbishop Murphy High School, a private school in southeast Everett.
"She was a consummate teacher," Paul Lawrence said. "She thoroughly enjoyed her years at Cascade. Murphy was another new challenge, and a great time for her."
"She wasn't ready to leave teaching," said Fran Ennis, Archbishop Murphy's principal and a longtime friend of the Lawrences.
Despite a three-year battle with cancer, Lawrence was teaching at Murphy until the week before she died.
Dawn Whitehead Lawrence died Nov. 15. She was 61.
Along with her husband, she is survived by her mother, Marjorie Bissell, her sister, Gay Kirkpatrick, and many loved ones and friends.
"Her last day here was Wednesday, Nov. 9," said Patti Means, Archbishop Murphy's communications director. "On that Tuesday after school, kids in a leadership class made 1,000 pictures of daffodils and lined the hallways. All the students wrote notes on them."
Not only a teacher and coach, Lawrence ran her own container-planting business, Lawrence Exteriors. She filled flower pots for businesses around Everett and at Archbishop Murphy. "She also started the gardening club here," Means said.
She was born in Everett on July 23, 1950, to Lawrence and Marjorie Whitehead. Her father had been a track star at Everett High School in the late 1940s, her husband said.
Following in those footsteps, Dawn became a Duck when she went to the University of Oregon. The school is known for its track stars, including Steve Prefontaine. "She was part of that great tradition at Hayward Field," Paul Lawrence said. "She brought that passion to coaching track at Cascade."
Dawn and Paul Lawrence, who married in 1981, lived at Priest Point on the Tulalip waterfront.
Avid boaters, they often cruised on their boat "Early Dawn" to the San Juan Islands, Seattle and other destinations. "We named the boat Early Dawn because she was always up before I was," Lawrence said.
She was a member and past president of the Snohomish County Marine Resources Advisory Committee, and a member of the Washington State Coaches Association, Providence General Children's Association and the Everett Woman's Book Club.
Danielle Marks, varsity volleyball coach at Cascade and an administrative assistant in the Everett School District's athletic office, had Dawn Lawrence as a teacher at Cascade.
"Dawn was just one of those really strong female role models you would hope any student would have -- in their high school career or their life," Marks said.
"I was a softball player in the spring season, and Dawn was head coach for track. She tried to get me out for track. I chose softball. No matter what, she was so encouraging," Marks said. "And she was phenomenal teacher. She made you work hard and earn the grades. She was an amazing woman."
Principal Ennis, whose late husband, Terry Ennis, had been head football coach at Cascade and later at Archbishop Murphy, said Lawrence was an asset in the private school's growing science department. A biology lab at Archbishop Murphy now is named in her honor.
"She had very high standards," Ennis said. "Kids respected her in spite of the fact that they whined a lot. She never gave in and she never gave up on them.
"She didn't have children of her own, but she considered her students to be her kids," Ennis said. "At Cascade, she taught her kids how to write thank-you notes."
Paul Lawrence is a former head football coach at Everett High School. Through their school and coaching ties, the Ennises and Lawrences were longtime friends. "Her husband coached the line, and she used to have dinners for the linemen he coached," Ennis said.
"A lot of her colleagues have said the first thing they noticed about her was her smile," Paul Lawrence said.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Memorial Sunday
A memorial service for Dawn Lawrence will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Archbishop Murphy High School gymnasium, 12911 39th Ave. SE, Everett.
A 1968 graduate of the Everett school, she was the first Cascade alumnus to return to teach there, her husband, Paul Lawrence, said.
Her career didn't end when she left Cascade, which in 2010 inducted her into the Cascade High School Coaches Hall of Fame.
She retired in June 2007. That September, she started a new chapter. She became a biology teacher at Archbishop Murphy High School, a private school in southeast Everett.
"She was a consummate teacher," Paul Lawrence said. "She thoroughly enjoyed her years at Cascade. Murphy was another new challenge, and a great time for her."
"She wasn't ready to leave teaching," said Fran Ennis, Archbishop Murphy's principal and a longtime friend of the Lawrences.
Despite a three-year battle with cancer, Lawrence was teaching at Murphy until the week before she died.
Dawn Whitehead Lawrence died Nov. 15. She was 61.
Along with her husband, she is survived by her mother, Marjorie Bissell, her sister, Gay Kirkpatrick, and many loved ones and friends.
"Her last day here was Wednesday, Nov. 9," said Patti Means, Archbishop Murphy's communications director. "On that Tuesday after school, kids in a leadership class made 1,000 pictures of daffodils and lined the hallways. All the students wrote notes on them."
Not only a teacher and coach, Lawrence ran her own container-planting business, Lawrence Exteriors. She filled flower pots for businesses around Everett and at Archbishop Murphy. "She also started the gardening club here," Means said.
She was born in Everett on July 23, 1950, to Lawrence and Marjorie Whitehead. Her father had been a track star at Everett High School in the late 1940s, her husband said.
Following in those footsteps, Dawn became a Duck when she went to the University of Oregon. The school is known for its track stars, including Steve Prefontaine. "She was part of that great tradition at Hayward Field," Paul Lawrence said. "She brought that passion to coaching track at Cascade."
Dawn and Paul Lawrence, who married in 1981, lived at Priest Point on the Tulalip waterfront.
Avid boaters, they often cruised on their boat "Early Dawn" to the San Juan Islands, Seattle and other destinations. "We named the boat Early Dawn because she was always up before I was," Lawrence said.
She was a member and past president of the Snohomish County Marine Resources Advisory Committee, and a member of the Washington State Coaches Association, Providence General Children's Association and the Everett Woman's Book Club.
Danielle Marks, varsity volleyball coach at Cascade and an administrative assistant in the Everett School District's athletic office, had Dawn Lawrence as a teacher at Cascade.
"Dawn was just one of those really strong female role models you would hope any student would have -- in their high school career or their life," Marks said.
"I was a softball player in the spring season, and Dawn was head coach for track. She tried to get me out for track. I chose softball. No matter what, she was so encouraging," Marks said. "And she was phenomenal teacher. She made you work hard and earn the grades. She was an amazing woman."
Principal Ennis, whose late husband, Terry Ennis, had been head football coach at Cascade and later at Archbishop Murphy, said Lawrence was an asset in the private school's growing science department. A biology lab at Archbishop Murphy now is named in her honor.
"She had very high standards," Ennis said. "Kids respected her in spite of the fact that they whined a lot. She never gave in and she never gave up on them.
"She didn't have children of her own, but she considered her students to be her kids," Ennis said. "At Cascade, she taught her kids how to write thank-you notes."
Paul Lawrence is a former head football coach at Everett High School. Through their school and coaching ties, the Ennises and Lawrences were longtime friends. "Her husband coached the line, and she used to have dinners for the linemen he coached," Ennis said.
"A lot of her colleagues have said the first thing they noticed about her was her smile," Paul Lawrence said.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Memorial Sunday
A memorial service for Dawn Lawrence will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Archbishop Murphy High School gymnasium, 12911 39th Ave. SE, Everett.
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