Garland Lawson

GARLAND LOYD "RED" LAWSON, age 84 of Manassas, VA died Saturday, June 29, 2002 at Annaburg Manor, Manassas. Mr. Lawson served in World War II as a member of the 82nd Infantry Division under General George Patton. After the war he graduated from Oklahoma State University in Agricultural Engineering with a major in Mechanical Engineering. He worked for the Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. and then for a small natural gas company in Illinois. He spent a few years as chief engineer for the Interstate Tire Company in Iowa and ran a factory, which manufactured residential commercial and industrial gas burners. He was manager of the Fredericksburg Natural Gas Service from 1960 to 1963. In 1963 he went into business for himself as an agent with the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. Mr. Lawson was instrumental in founding the TIP program in Prince William County in 1972. He was a 32nd degree Mason. He was a member and past president of the Woodbridge Lions club where he had perfect attendance for 22 years. Mr. Lawson was president of United Way for Manassas and Manassas Park. He was chairman of the Prince William County United Way from 1983 to 1986. He was a member of the Prince William Chamber of Commerce from 1968 to 1975 where he served as President and acted as a counselor for S.C.O.R.E. He established the first service unit for the Salvation Army in Prince William County in 1967 and was appointed a life member of the advisory board. He was a founder of the Vocational Education Foundation in Prince William County, serving as treasurer and chairman of the advisory board. In 2001 and 2002, several scholarships were awarded by the foundation in his name. He was preceded in death by his first wife Dorothy Dutton Lawson in 1978, one brother Arthur Lawson, and one sister Pauline Bullard. Survivors include his wife of 22 years, Nancy Parrish Haydon Lawson, one step daughter Victoria Haydon Bonifant and her husband William of Martinsburg, WV, two step-sons, Richard Challice Haydon, III and his wife Deborah of Lexington, KY, and Geoffrey Jennings Haydon of Atlanta, GA, one brother Carl Lawson and his wife Laura of Wewoka, OK. Also surviving are six step-grandchildren, William W. Bonifant, Jr. and his wife Virginia, Challice L. Bonifant, Nancy K. Bonifant, Garland P. Bonifant, Richard C. Haydon, IV, and Caroline M. Haydon. The family will receive friends from 7:00-9:00 P.M. Monday, July 1, 2002 at Price Funeral Home, 9609 Center Street, Manassas. Funeral services will be held 10:00 A.M. Tuesday, July 2, 2002 at Grace United Methodist Church, 9750 Wellington Rd., Manassas with Rev. Rudy Tucker officiating. Interment will follow at National Memorial Park, Falls Church, VA. In lieu of flowers expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to Grace United Methodist Church Memorial Fund, 9750 Wellington Rd., Manassas, VA 20110 in memory of Garland Loyd "Red" Lawson.

Garland Lawson

May 4, 1918 - June 29, 2002