Joe's Dad Passed Away

Joe's dad passed away this week. Below is his obituary for the newspaper:

Joe Vernon Dobson, Sr., 62, of Blytheville, Ark., passed away Tuesday morning at Great River Medical Center after a long battle with Multiple Sclerosis. An accountant, educator, computer expert, and loving husband and father, Dobson retired in 2000 after developing a particularly degenerative form of the disease. The family has planned a memorial service for 11 a.m. Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church of Blytheville, where he was a member.

Dobson was born June 3, 1945 in Jacksonville, Ill., to self-employed farmer Walter Eugene Dobson and his wife, Josephine Ethel Smith. He often said his love for the science of accounting began on that farm as he played at his father’s desk where the farm’s books were kept.

Both parents died when Dobson was in his early teens and he was given a new home by his sister, Lena, and her husband, Elmer Hamm. While with the Hamm family, Dobson was able to travel Europe due to Mr. Hamm’s military service. The family eventually settled in central Texas and Dobson graduated from Copperas Cove High School in 1963.

Dobson served in the United States Air Force as a meteorologist and was stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, La., when he met his future wife, Lila Jeanine White, whom he married in 1965. After completing his enlistment, Dobson attended Louisiana Tech University, where he graduated in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. His first position after school was with Texas Eastern Oil Corporation in Shreveport, La., where he worked in the data processing and accounting departments as a programmer specializing in COBOL and Fortran.

Dobson later served as comptroller at a centralized warehouse facility for the Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain in Shreveport, and later as head of accounting for J.J. MacArthur and Associates, a restaurant franchising firm in Louisiana. He was able to pursue his love of teaching when he served as an instructor at Draughon Business College in Shreveport, La., specializing in the fields of accounting and data processing. He was eventually named the school’s administrator.

Before the more debilitating effects of his illness set in, Dobson was active in the community through First Presbyterian of Bossier City, where he served as a lay minister, deacon, elder and church treasurer. He spent Sunday mornings with his wife and children singing in the church choir. He was also an active member of the Bossier City Jaycees. In his spare time, he enjoyed having fun with his family and indulging in his eclectic taste in music.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his sister, Lena Mae Hamm; two brothers, Walter Eugene Dobson, Jr., and Marion Earl Dobson; and one granddaughter, Lila Celeste Dobson. He is survived by his wife, Lila, of Blytheville; a daughter, Jennifer Jeanine Woods of Blytheville; a son, Joe Vernon, Dobson, Jr. of DeFuniak Springs, Fla.; two granddaughters, Veronica Jeanine Woods and Chloe Simone Dobson; a grandson, Alexander Christian Dobson; and a host of nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in his name to the Great River Charitable Clinic, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization currently under development to help provide free medical care for children and their families in Mississippi County whose household income is less than 150% of the government-mandated poverty line and who have no access to health insurance or public assistance. Donations can be made through either the First Presbyterian Church, 1520 N. 10th Street, Blytheville, AR 72315, or the First United Methodist Church, 701 West Main, Blytheville, AR 72315.