Crash victim dreamed of holding public office
Kylie Dawson was heading into her junior year at the University of Maryland, near Baltimore, but the Exeter High School graduate’s eyes were on Washington, specifically 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., her grandmother said.
Betty Ann Dawson of Earl Township said Aug. 8 that Kylie, her 20-year-old granddaughter, studied government and politics at Maryland.
Kylie Dawson died Aug. 7 in Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem Hospital a few days after a weekend crash in North Carolina that killed her father and brother and left her mother hospitalized.
The young woman was not only interested in studying for politics; she set her sights on one day holding national office.
Betty Ann Dawson said she was certain Kylie would one day make a bid for the highest office in the land.
“She had an eye on the presidency,” the grandmother said proudly.
Kylie’s mother, Melissa, is the lone survivor of the head-on crash that happened Aug. 4 when the family was driving to a relative’s lake house for a vacation.
Kylie’s lifelong friend, Ashley D’Archanglelo, said Melissa Dawson called her from the hospital with word of the latest death. She was told Kylie died about 5 p.m.
“We were practically raised together, Kylie and me,” D’Archangelo said.
Melissa, 48, was listed in good condition, a hospital spokeswoman said, but D’Archangelo expected her to be discharged soon.
D’Archangelo said her friend was proud to be an organ donor.
“Hopefully some lives can be saved using her organs,” she said.
Courtesy of Dave Brubaker | Bryan Dawson, lower right with beard, in a 2009 photo with members of an instructional hockey team. Some of the members like Dawson served as youth hockey coaches and formed a team to better learn the game.
Killed in the crash were Bryan Dawson, 48, and his son Garhett, 17, who was to be a senior at Exeter High school this year.
On her Facebook page, Melissa Dawson wrote Wednesday: “Kylie Dawson has gone to be with Bryan Dawson and Garhett Dawson. Please hug your loved ones, family and friends. Life is short.”
Troopers in North Carolina said Melissa Dawson was driving north on Highway 109 near Lexington in central North Carolina when an oncoming car crossed into their lane.
That driver, 19-year-old Paxton Workman of High Point, N.C., was not injured. He was initially charged with driving left of center and two counts of misdemeanor death by motor vehicle.
Exeter School District is making counselors available from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. today to support students and staff in the wake of the tragedy.
Betty Ann Dawson said her daughter-in-law gave the go-ahead for surgeons to harvest the organs of her husband, son and daughter. Their remains will be cremated and then Melissa will come home, she said.
“All three of them are organ donors,” Betty Ann Dawson said.
A celebration-of-life service is planned for Aug. 17, she said.
The Exeter community has rallied to help the Dawson family.
A close friend of Kylie Dawson launched a GoFundMe campaign on Tuesday to help the family. In one day, organizer Sean Leigh said, the campaign raised more than $30,000, which he called “nothing short of amazing.”
The total surpassed $48,000 on Aug. 8.
Betty Ann Dawson described her son as a happy man, a devoted father who brought laughter and joy to those around him.
For most of his married life, Bryan Dawson was a stay-at-home dad, working part-time as a bartender at Union Jack’s Inn on the Manatawny in Oley Township.
He was in the process of renovating their old farmhouse in the Five Points area of Exeter.
“He was an avid kayaker,” his mother said. “He loved the outdoors. He was happy, always made people laugh. He was a dedicated dad, hockey coach, father extraordinaire.”
Reporter Dan Kelly contributed to this story.