Dawson Mortuary: A Southwest Atlanta Legacy

Alfonso Dawson had a style all of his own.

Born the son of sharecroppers, there weren’t many job opportunities for Dawson in the 1950s except becoming a teacher or a funeral director.

He chose to become a funeral director and set out to make his mark in the business culled in gray and black by adding a splash of color.

“He came with his maroon and beige cars, his bright colors and bright windows with natural lighting,” said Dawson’s daughter, Phoebe Dawson Ushery, who now runs Alfonso Dawson Mortuary, Inc., at 3000 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. “It revolutionized the funeral business. He was a trendsetter. He came with his colors and changed the look of funeral homes."

But Dawson did more than just change the look of the funeral business; with the help of his wife, the storyteller with the dry sense of humor also built a legacy.

Dawson married his wife, Elizabeth Latimer, in 1953 and the following year they opened Dawson Mortuary in their hometown of Warrenton. In 1961, they opened a second funeral home in neighboring Thomson.

Still “It wasn’t enough,” Ushery said. “He wanted to take on more. Atlanta was the big city, the big step to take on bigger challenges."

With Elizabeth Dawson’s style and grace and Dawson’s vision and flare, the couple moved to the Cascade Heights neighborhood in Atlanta in 1965 where they found the final resting place for their business. They sold the other two funeral homes.

Together, they worked long hours to take care of the business and their growing family.

“She was a trendsetter in fashion,” said daughter Kathy Dawson, who runs the family’s Resthaven Gardens of Memory cemetery in Decatur. “She believed women should own their own business and property.

“He was honest, helping the community. He had a dry sense of humor and loved to tell great little stories,” Kathy Dawson said. “He enjoyed people, was a good business man, had vision, know-how. He set the standard for doing every family right."

To Dawson, each family was important and he wanted to be a part of what they were going through. And that sense of service extended beyond his business.

“He liked to help young men start their business and get on their feet,” Dawson said. “He believed in helping a lot of black people along the way.”

Then the elderly Dawson lost his partner. Elizabeth Dawson died at 53 after battling an illness. Her husband, who outlived her by another two decades, would live to see the developments that would transform the face of funeral homes locally and nationwide.

Gone were the days when funerals were held on Saturdays and were seen as a home-going celebration when family and longtime friends could reunite.

“Everyone used to want to wait for Saturday,” Ushery said. “Now more people are doing it throughout the week. By having it on Saturday, some used to travel, wait until they get paid and more people were off on Saturdays so they would get the best attendance.”

But that wasn’t the biggest change.

"There has been an increase in cremation and that has changed the business for everyone,” Kathy Dawson said. “Cremation has changed the face of our industry.”

The basic funeral cost an average of $3,800, which include a standard casket, embalming, hearse and chapel. But at one-third the cost, more
families are opting for cremation.

More families are also making funeral arrangements in advance at a locked-in price.

Ushery, a psychology and education major, makes sure she is there for all of them. Molded in the tradition set by her father, Ushery offers counseling service to the grieving loved ones, providing her cell phone number to family members with the invitation to call her any time they needed her.

Ushery and her siblings took turns working at the funeral homes during high school. They started out as receptionists until they were old enough to drive the limousines.

“Where ever daddy was we wanted to be,” said Ushery, a licensed funeral director and licensed embalmer.

Now the siblings, three daughters and one son, work together to run the funeral home and the cemetery, which is 27 acres with 11 gardens. And Ushery is already grooming her son to take over.

The funeral home, which has 11 employees including seven licensed funeral directors, handles about 25 services every month and is opened seven days a week.

“I love my work,” Ushery said. “I love to make this hard time a little easier for families, to get right with them and work out the funeral right for them.”