CATCHING UP WITH ROGER LAWSON, CLASS OF 1961

 

Roger Lawson, Class of 1961, is living in retirement in Farmington Hills, Michigan after teaching history from first grade to high school in Detroit and Redford school districts in Michigan.

 

His wife, Mary Lawson, was a social worker in Detroit with a private therapist practice in Hamburg, Michigan, for 25 years.

Farmington Hills is only 23 miles northwest of Detroit on Michigan Route 10. The #1 employer is Bosch USA the power tools company headquartered in Illinois.

So Roger went from Monongah, just over the hill from Farmington, to Farmington Hills, a short drive from Detroit.

 

They have three children: Jonathan, who provided me the information, David and Elizabeth.

 

David provided two grandchildren for Roger and Mary, Holly and Hunter, both in their 20s and all living in Michigan. Jonathan added a granddaughter for Roger and Mary, Kathryn, and lives in Florida. Elizabeth added two grandchildren, for a total of 5, in Gabrielle, 7, and Maya, 13, also living in Michigan.

 

At Monongah High Roger played football, was in the legendary Monongah High band, in the school orchestra and a member of the Projectors Club.

 

Jonathan, Roger’s son in the sun of Florida these days, told me:

 

“Some of my fondest memories of my parents and family was when we would take our trips, a few times a year, to see our Sitto (grandmother in Syrian language) in Monongah.

 

“My dad always lit up when we would cross into the West Virginia mountains on our long road trips. He would share his memories of family and friends growing up. It always felt magical to me to grow up where he did. It was a time of true family connectedness for me.”

 

Take me home, country roads, is more than just the words in a song. It’s what West Virginia natives, including me, do when we want to feel like we’re in a place where we belong. Take me home, Mountain Mama.

 

Since MY mother was born In Italy, we called her mom Nona, Italian for grandmother, which really is a contraction of Madonna for married women, as in Mona Lisa. The subject of the famous painting was a weathy Florence, Italy businessman’s wife, whose in real life was Mona Giacondo.