An obituary for James Whitley Dawson, Jr

My son's father died  at the age of 51. He had suffered three heart attacks and had congestive heart failure. He was fired from his job after the second heart attack and was unable to find anyone who was willing to hire him.

He was denied disability.  He mowed the lawn in the decrepit trailer park in which he resided in exchange for rent. He slowly sold off  everything of value to survive. Without money for health services, he could not afford the medications he needed. He ended up owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in healthcare bills from his frequent hospitalizations and ER visits.

James Dawson, aka Sean O"Dea,
the Damn Irish Yankee

He died at home alone, and was not discovered for three days. His immediate family is also hard up, and could only scrape up the money for a cremation. There was no funeral service - just a cardboard box to put his ashes in. This will be the only obituary as a  testament to his life.

His birth  name was James Whitley Dawson. He was known as Skipper to his immediate family, and to others he was known as  John Davison or Sean Patrick O'Dea. He was born August 8, 1962 in Norfolk, VA. As a child he lived in North Carolina and Missouri. He was an Army veteran who had been stationed in South Korea and Germany. He was also a proud  veteran of the French Foreign Legion. He loved all things military, and was active as a Civil War Union soldier re-enactor until he became to ill to participate. He was an avid builder of model military tanks and aircraft, and earned some money selling them online.

He is survived by two sons, Christopher Dawson, Boblingen, Germany and Liam O'Dea, McClusky, ND; a sister Lisa Motes of Alabama; two brothers, Joseph Dawson, Missouri, and Brandon Dawson, North Carolina.

He lived.......