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Many thanks to Classmates Judy Penrod for providing 'clipping.' yearbook.

The music of life

This is the sixth of a 12 part series focusing on York High School graduates of 1954 who are preparing to celebrate their 45th reunion. Some have gone on to fame and fortune while others have stayed in Elmhurst trying to make a difference in their hometown. This month's student is Bill Dawson, a retired orthopedic surgeon living in Glenview. Before building up a medical career, Dawson's first love was playing music in high school , specifically wind instruments such as the bassoon and saxophone. Dawson's interests in music helped shape Dawson's life in the past, and they continue to do so.

Retired from orthopedic practice, Bill Dawson still devotes some time to playing in local bands and participating in music organizations that look at helping performers and their medical problems.

By Marie Lazzara
Press Publications

York graduate finds joy in song, medicine

While some students focused on social activities or athletics, Bill Dawson made music an integral part of his life during his years at York High School.
    Even now, as a retired orthopedic surgeon, Dawson wields a bassoon or a saxophone among other wind instruments while performing in local bands.
    When he talks about his experiences in the York High School band or Elmhurst College band, he displays a sense of joy and deep respect for music. Making music for him truly comes from the heart and soul.
    "You don't need to have a big voice or be a [cellist like] Yo Yo Ma to be able to make music," he said. "You need the desire, basics and feelings inside to know that there is music that needs to come out somehow."
    He has found many opportunities in his life to explore music, even as he pursued his career in orthopedics.

Music man
Dawson, born in Chicago, grew up in Elmhurst and attended Hawthorne Elementary School.
    At age 7, he took up the piano and later joined the Hawthorne School band. In eighth grade, he found his niche in double-reed instruments such as the clarinet and the bas soon.
    He traces his musical heritage back to his grandfather and great uncles who played in a town band in England.
    Having skipped a grade at Haw thorne, Dawson entered York at age 13 and joined its cadet band. As a member of the cadet band, he displayed his technique for playing the double bass, saxophone, tuba and euphonium, which is a small tuba.
    "There were two bands at York: the senior band and the so-called cadet band," he said. "Most of us started out in the cadet band. The good ones moved rather rapidly into the senior band, which is what happened to me because they needed a bassoon player. We had about 90 members playing in the band. Probably one out of every three or four students was involved in music. The school had a very large choral group, choruses for each class and mixed choirs."
    "In a band, you have the camaraderie of many people playing," he added. "There's more of a social aspect to playing in a band.
    "There was a feeling of enjoyment, the enjoyment of the music and making music, not just by itself, but as a part of an organization that can produce the sounds."
    One memorable experience was the fierce rivalry that York had with the Joliet Township High School band. At the end of his freshman year, LaVerne Reimer, the new band director, came in to whip the York bands into top form by performing in contests and public appearances.
    In 1954, when York's band competed with Joliet's in a state contest, the little high school from Elmhurst toppled the "2,000-pound gorilla of high school bands," Dawson said. It was a sweet victory for Dawson and his fellow band members.
    "This was something that never happened to Joliet for 25 or 30 years," he said. "It always had a strong musical heritage."
    Away from the competitions, Dawson and other students performed in a pep band that entertained fans and York's basketban teams wlm me upbeat tunes of Harry James, Benny Goodman, and Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey.
    "Our popular music was basically big-band, which is what now is being called 'swing," Dawson said. "We would use pieces of it. The students loved it because it had a beat and they could clap to it."
    During his years at York, Dawson enjoyed the biology and science classes taught by Russell Palmer, a teacher Dawson remembered for his kindness. This early interest in science marked the start of his interest in a medical career.
    Though he did not have a lot of free time, Dawson said he did participate in Scouting activities and in the Elmhurst-based First Congregational Church choir.
    As a teenager, money was important for Dawson to have when hanging out with friends or with dates. To earn his money, Dawson began working as a clerk at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital in the summer of 1952.
    It was the beginning of a long stay at the hospital, where he worked from 1952 to 1961 in various jobs, such as being a "mop jock" in the housekeeping department and work as a surgical technician for doctors.
    During the time that he worked in the housekeeping department, Dawson secretly watched the doctors perform autopsies. He was curious about the workings of the body and how disease could harm people. This would make an impact on his later decision on a medical field.
    "At first, it was a little strange," he said. 'You have to take a very separated view of what's going on. Realistically, it's a part of the cycle that begins with birth and ends in death.
    "In a general sense, as a medical student, you learn about the patterns of disease and what happens to you. "The operating room does not hold any fears for me."
    Dawson said that he once thought of having a musical career, but the idea was frowned on by his father, an architectural engineer, who described it as "unstable." His other option was to enter the medical profession.

Making a decision
Elmhurst College was the next stop for Dawson. Financially, he could not afford to attend a school that was out of state. With tuition grants, he he was able to take part in the college's premed program.
    As he studied, he continued his passion for music in mnay ways. One was being a classical music disk jockey for the school's radio station, WRSE.
    Dawson also resurrected the college band with the help of faculty members and several students. During the 1950's, Elmhurst College was more of a training ground for Evangelical Lutheran pastors, he said.

LEFT Bill Dawson, pictured here as a senior, is a musician at heart. For the York High School Class of 1954 Reunion, he plans to bring together old friends for one more lively jam session in front of his classmates.

"Music was basically piano, organ and choral as it related to church activities," he said.
    Away from college activities, Dawson and seven other students formed The Lamplighters, a dance ensemble that performed at schools and local country clubs.
    But when Dawson entered the University of Illinois at Chicago's medical school, music had to take a back seat to intensive studying.
    In his junior year at medical school, he decided to become a specialist in orthopedics because of his fascination with different parts of the body. He called it "working from the nose to the toes."
    In 1961, he married his wife, Beverly, whom he met at UIC. She was a nursing student from Carbondale.
    After he finished his internship in 1963, Dawson was drafted into the U.S. Army. Dawson had volunteered his services before, but he was turned down because there were enough physicians.
    "Vietnam was under way and they needed physicians, but they wanted specialists," he said. "There was a program to allow you to defer your military service until you completed your residency, and then the military would take you in for two years of service as a specialist."
    He and his wife moved to Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland, and Dawson took care of the military families there until 1965.
    That year, the couple welcomed their only child, Susan, who was delivered at an adjacent medical base.
    The two years at Edgewood Arsenal gave Dawson more medical experience as a general practitioner.
    In 1965, he returned to Chicago and started his residency in specialty training for orthopedics at Northwestern University. In 1969, he joined an Evanston medical practice and became a partner in the early 1970s. He worked there until 1996.

It's all in the hand
Dawson eventually focused his medical expertise on hand surgery. The hand is the most complicated, fascinating part of the muscular skeletal system to me," he said. "The hand has capabilities far exceeding any other part of our body. The number of different physical activities or functions that the hand can do is really amazing.
    "Without hands, I couldn't be a surgeon or do the type of music that I do."
    One patient that touched his life was a young woman, a soprano, who was injured in a house fire in the late 1970's.
    "There was severe hand, facial and respiratory burns," he said. "The work that I did is what most plastic surgeons would do. She subsequenlty had enough damage that she was unable to sing. Her hands were very badly damaged and needed reconstructive surgery. About two years after her initial burn injury, I received a Christmas card from her. It said something to the effect of "Because of you, I'm able to write this Christmas card.
    During this time, he was able to free up some of his schedule to play with a chamber group in Winnetka in the 1970's and 1980's.
    He describes arts medicine as an occupational medicine that treats patients such as musicians, dancers and actors for problems particularly related to their work
    Some of the problems, he said, are muscular straining and inflammations.
    Dawson saw these conditions firsthand as he traveled with his daughter's high school band and talked to other student musicians.
    After his retirement, he joined the board of directors for the Performing Arts Medicine Association, and he currently is on the editorial board for its journal.
    In addition, he joined musical organizations such as the International Double Reed Society as a medical consultant.
    Dawson is also an advocate for funding for the arts.
    He encourages people to work within their communities and to talk to local school board officials about saving arts programs.
    Today, his activities include performing with the Northwest Symphony Orchestra and local bands in Glenview and Highland Park He teaches bassoon at Loyola Academy in Wilmette.
    Dawson, who is helping with the York Class of 1954 Reunion Planning Committee, hopes to find old friends and to display his musical chops at the reunion.
    He is looking for classmates to play music with him, particularly memorable tunes such as the class song, "When the Saints Go Marching In."
    Dawson said several former classmates have indicated an interest in performing.
    "We're going to plan to play, those of us that can and are interested in getting together," Dawson said. "We'll play the old school fight song and have some professional music."
    For those York class of 1954 students who want to be involved in providing music, call Bill Dawson at (847) 729-6830.

With his bassoon, Bill Dawson is ready to play. Dawson, who joined York's cadet band, has performed all types of music from marches to Broadway show tunes to orchestral pieces. In 1954, he was part of York's band, which toppled Joliet Township High School in a state contest. The two schools had a long rivalry. This web page was carefully handcrafted in html by a small team of craftsmen in the Ozark foothills of Missouri. After a careful analysis of the site's contents, they have chosen these links of possible interest to you. Clicking on a link will reward the skill and craftsmanship of the little old craftsmen. Go for it! MORE '54 CLASSMATES HOME