Mr. James Franklin Dawkins

Mr. James Franklin Dawkins, known throughout the community as “Coach Dawkins”, died Monday, June 24th, 2019 at Riverside Health and Rehab. He was 97. Funeral services for Coach Dawkins will be held on Thursday, June 27th, 2019 at 2:00 PM at the Thomaston-Upson Civic Center with Rev. Bill Barber and Dr. Glenn Gilstrap officiating. Burial will follow in South View Cemetery. The family of Coach Dawkins will receive friends at the Civic Center on Thursday from 1:00 pm until the funeral hour. Coaches and former players of Coach Dawkins are asked to sit together at the service. Coach Dawkins was born on May 17th, 1922 in Porterdale, the second of nine children born to Franklin Thomas and Myrtle Mae Torbush Dawkins. His parents moved their family to Thomaston when he was six years old, and he attended East Thomaston Grammar School and graduated from R. E. Lee Institute in 1940. Coach Dawkins served in the U. S. Army from 1942 through 1946 and served in the European Theater, France and England. During his military service he played football for the Seine Comets, who played mostly in Europe in the mid 1940’s. After his military service he returned to Thomaston, attended Gordon Military College and Erskine College and met Betty Jean Jones on the Upson County Courthouse square. They married in 1948. In 1951 Coach Dawkins began working at R. E. Lee Grammar School as the PE teacher. Approximately three years later he began after school activities at Weaver Park for the City and County school systems in addition to teaching during the day. In 1975 with the construction of the Civic Center, he became the recreation director. He retired from the Recreation Department in 1984. Among his many accomplishments and awards, Coach Dawkins received the Georgia Parks and Recreation Distinguished Service Award for 35 years of service to Thomaston-Upson County. In 2005 he was inducted as a charter member into the Thomaston Upson Sports Hall of Fame and in 2009 he received the Sertoma Service to Mankind Award. He was honored in a 2011 tribute by the Upson Lee High School Athletic Booster Club. In 2014 he was awarded the Thomason-Upson Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2013 the newly renovated Recreation Youth Football Complex was named in his honor. Coach Dawkins produced numerous sports teams of quality and great discipline, including the Little League State Champions in 1972. He was instrumental in starting the Junior Peach Football Bowl. Many of his athletes went on to have outstanding high school and collegiate careers. After retirement Coach Dawkins enjoyed golfing, caring for his property, meeting with his coffee club to discuss “going ons” in Upson County, traveling with Mrs. Dawkins, and attending Upson-Lee home football games where he was the “keeper” of the press box. Coach Dawkins was a member of the First Presbyterian Church and was also a member of the American Legion and the VFW. Coach Dawkins and his wife were the proud parents of a son, James Franklin “Jim” Dawkins, Jr., on December 30, 1959. Jim was a member of Coach Dawkins’ 1972 Thomaston Little League All-Star team that won the state championship and advanced to the southeastern playoffs in Florida. Jim died of leukemia in 1979. Coach Dawkins is survived by his wife, Betty Jean Jones Dawkins; two sisters, Frances D. Deal of Atlanta and Fairy D. Jackson of Hiawassee; a brother, Leonard Dawkins of Atlanta; and several nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to the Thomaston-Upson Recreation Youth Programs, P. O. Box 470, Thomaston, GA 30286. Fletcher-Day Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Condolences and remembrances may be expressed at www.fletcherdayfuneralhome.com