Caroline Weiss Dawson
Caroline Weiss Dawson died on November 5, 2024 at the Champlain Physicians Hospital, Plattsburgh, N.Y., after suffering a major stroke at home on October 1, 2024.
Caroline was born in Watertown, WI on November 18, 1940. Caroline was predeceased by her parents Richard Glenn Weiss, a pharmacist in Watertown and Madison, WI and Kathryn Franey Weiss, a music teacher and homemaker.
She is also predeceased by her older brothers, Peter Weiss of Minneapolis, MN and Stephen Weiss of Portland OR, and one younger sister Christine Weiss Roberts of Ithaca, NY.
She is survived by her husband James C. Dawson of Plattsburgh and one younger sister, Martha Weiss Kneuer of Bend, OR and seven nieces and nephews. She is also survived by five of her six high school sorority ‘ya ya’ sisters.
Caroline graduated from West High School in Madison, WI and earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At the university she was a member of the Alpha Phi sorority. She later went on to earn a Master of Science in Nursing degree from Boston University.
At BU she did her summer field experience in pediatric nursing in the Roxbury area of South Boston. Caroline worked as a Supervisor and Director of Patient Services (public heath nursing) at the Clinton County Health Department, Plattsburgh, before retiring after twenty years of service.
In retirement she went on to earn a Masters of Public Administration degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Social Work, both at The University at Albany, SUNY. She did her PhD dissertation study on the impact of severe childhood asthma on caregivers in rural northeastern Vermont.
She started this study during the early part of her fifteen year career at the Vermont Department of Health in Burlington, VT where she wrote the first drafts of several State of Vermont, Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports. She loved her trips to Atlanta, GA where she presented the final drafts of these reports to the CDC&P.
Caroline met her husband at “The Office,” a bar on Park Street in Madison, WI, in November, 1967. They dated while Jim completed his PhD work in geology and geophysics at the UW-Madison and were married on June 12, 1971 in Plattsburgh, NY.
Caroline will be remembered for her infectious giggle, her sparkle and her sweet smile. She loved and cared about people and she loved life. Caroline liked to be outside and enjoyed sailing on Lake Champlain for many years with her husband, Jim, on their Tanzer 26, the ‘Kant Agre’. She especially enjoyed their week long adventures exploring all the nooks, crannies, islands and gunk holes of the lake. She enjoyed camping in the woods and supported Jim as they camped in all the wilderness areas of the Adirondacks. She called herself ‘the reluctant 46er’ as she followed Jim around to become #889. In the winter, she enjoyed cross country skiing until she broke her left leg in 1980 skiing on the new Olympic trails In Lake Placid.
The lameness associated with this break, and the arthritis that followed, were a great frustration for Caroline as it largely ended her outdoor activity. Fortunately, Caroline always loved classical music and opera, and with Jim, she enjoyed many years of performances of the Lake Placid Symphonia, the Montreal Symphony, the Montreal Opera, the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, NY and when possible The Met in New York. She was always determined to support and attend local classical, and near classical, music groups and concerts.
She loved her apartment piano; but, did not practice enough to become truly accomplished. Caroline also loved plays and the theatre, and for decades joined Jim for dinner and plays at the The Centaur in Montreal as well as several local theatre groups.
Caroline had a strong appreciation for the fine arts, and no trip to Boston, Montreal or New York or any major city was complete if she did not get to visit some of their major art museums. Caroline enjoyed her trips with Jim to the National Parks and other localities in the western United States and was very patient and supportive when Jim detoured to attend meetings or to look at rock outcrops.
Caroline also enjoyed and supported Jim on their, mostly annual, Christmas trips to the Toronto, ON area, to visit Jim’s family. Caroline also loved her ya ya sisters and the several annual trips they took together, as well as the birthday telephone, and later, zoom calls they shared.
Caroline was a great reader, and after their wedding, she firmly insisted on having her own subscription to The Atlantic and a seven-day subscription to The New York Times. Having grown up with two older brothers, she could be feisty and insistent about getting her share. She regularly had Jim order books and she seemed to read a book a week including a range of contemporary fiction and to a lesser degree non-fiction.
Caroline loved her husband, Jim, very much and frequently told him this. Caroline and Jim were a little older, at age thirty, when they married, and both were ready for their long term commitment. As a result, they were each other’s best friends, lovers and companions throughout their lives together. So, Caroline was an extremely supportive friend and companion to Jim throughout his travels overseas and his many stateside activities.
Calling hours for Caroline will be held on Saturday, November 16, 2024 from 11a.m. to 1p.m. at the Brown Funeral Home, 29 Broad Street, Plattsburgh, NY followed by interment at the historic Riverside Cemetery, Plattsburgh.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her name to the ‘Drs. James C. and Caroline W. Dawson Endowment’ at The College Foundation, State University of New York, 101 Broad Street, Plattsburgh, NY, 12901.
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