Local leader Tom Lawson dies at 91

Dr. Tom Lawson’s death Monday at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center left the community in shock. Everyone described the 91-year-old retired educator and community leader as a dedicated public servant, gentleman and true leader.

“Dr. Lawson was a leader,” said Bill Robison, who worked with Lawson on the Highway 67 project. “He knew how to lead. He knew how to bring people together to accomplish what we’ve accomplished with Highway 67 north and to lay out a path for 67 south.”

While many people worked hard on the 67 project, Lawson and Jim Belknap pushed so hard and pressed, Robison said.

Robison explained he and Lawson often discussed the lives saved by the safety aspects.

“Dr. Lawson would tell me to keep it simple and focus on safety,” Robison said. “He liked to be involved in things that were impactful to the community. He could have been involved in a lot of different things, but he chose to be involved in the highway and the impact that highway could bring to the region.”

He said when looking at the highway project, it not only provided safety but also had an economic upside.

“The four lanes opened north in 2011,” Robison said. “Some very positive economic impact on the region has occurred.”

Lawson was the chairman of the Highway 67 Corporation, “so I worked probably since late 90s with him,” Robison said.

When Lawson stepped down as chairman of the corporation, Robison was named chairman, leaving some big shoes to fill.

Robison said, “It takes a team, that can’t be done by one person alone.”

Former City Manager Doug Bagby said, “Lawson really brought stability to that office over a 12 or 13 year period when it really was needed. I think he was a godsend for us.”

Lawson retired from Hazelwood, which was one of the largest school districts in the state, and then decided to move home to Poplar Bluff, where he served the community in many ways. Along with being a dedicated public servant, he was a dedicated family man and “really good friend,” Bagby said.

“Tom was one of the big players (in Highway 67),” Bagby said. “There were a lot of people involved in that to make it happen, but Tom was instrumental in that.”

Robbie Myers remembers Lawson quite well.

Myers was a Butler County commissioner when he first worked with Lawson.

“The cooperation level of working between two entities, he understood the value and the importance that we do that for the sake of our community,” Myers said. “He was a true gentleman and a true leader. He will be greatly missed. You could always expect a wise word, if you were in a meeting with him. Oftentimes, he would drop that wise word and get up and leave. But it always was something that needed to be said or thought about.”

At the time of Lawson’s retirement from Hazelwood, city manager Jim Moss, who had gone to school with Lawson, named Lawson to the city planner’s position, Myers said.

“Our community is forever better because of that,” said Myers, explaining Lawson played a role in the Black River Coliseum being built and Highway 67 becoming a four-lane.

Retired city manager and present city councilman Mark Massingham said, “I started working with Mr. Lawson in 1989 or ‘90, when he was head of the planning department. He became city manager shortly afterward. He was my boss until he retired.

“He had a very calming personality and because of that he was able to accomplish much for Poplar Bluff, including Clinton Park, the Black River Coliseum, the four-laning of Highway 67 and even getting I-57 started, just to name a few. He loved Poplar Bluff and always worked hard to make it prosper. He never stopped working for PB.”

“He will certainly be missed but he has left a mark on this community that he and his family and all of Butler County can be proud of,” Massingham said. “He was a great leader.”

Retired city police chief Danny Whiteley said, “It’s hard to put in words what I think Tom Lawson meant to the community, to myself and to his friends and family.”

Whiteley said his mother went to school with Tom and “it seems like I’ve known him forever, which I guess really I have.”

“He was the proverbial community leader that never weakened when he was on a project or a mission — as an example, the Black River Coliseum. He was just a tremendously great gentleman. One of the most caring people I’ve ever seen. He was the guy that hired me 22 years ago and I’ll be forever grateful for him taking the chance on an old cowboy and us having the relationship we’ve had over the past 40 or 50 years. But I certainly want to pray for him and his family. And he’s a really great guy.”

Funeral arrangements will be announced by Cotrell Willow Ridge Funeral Service.