Francis “Bus” Dawson, 96, of Boise, passed away October 31, 2021. Bus was born on February 12th 1925, in Denver, Colorado to parents Floyd and Lillian Dawson.
Bus served in the United States Marine Corp during WW2 and was wounded in the assault on Saipan when his amphibious tank was hit. He rejoined his unit for the invasion of Iwo Jima. He was discharged after the war and attended Biola Bible School. He married Jane Klein and they prepared to become pioneer missionaries, joining Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1950. He served with Wycliffe for over 50 years. He earned a master’s degree in Linguists from The University of Hawaii in 1971. He lost his wife Jane in 1975 and married Jean Shand in 1977. He served in many roles with Wycliffe and the Summer Institute of Linguistics which took him all over southeast Asia as the Southeast Asia Area Director. After the Philippines, he served in Australia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and other places. It was his passion to see as much of the Bible translated for indigenous people as possible and was especially involved with the Tagakaulo Kalgan translation which he started in 1953 with wife Jane and children. He was as involved as possible until he was 90 when he had to cease traveling overseas but he carried on working by email as long as he could.
He is survived by two sisters, Joan and Carol and 5 children: Shirley, Gail, Dale, Beverly, and Nancy.
He was greeted in Heaven by his parents, many brothers and sisters, friends, and co-workers who preceded him to Glory.
A committal servcie will be held, 10:00 am, Tuesday, November 30, 2021 at the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery, 10100 Horseshoe Bend Rd., Boise, Idaho. The service will be conducted by his family with grandson Pastor Andrew Luedtke officiating. He will be missed by all who knew him and had the opportunity to work with him.
Rest in Peace Dad.