George Dawson was called "America's favorite poster child for literacy" after learning to read at the age of 98. His life story, Life Is So Good, was published in 2000.

Early and mid-life

Dawson was born in Marshall, Texas

Marshall, Texas

Marshall is a city in Harrison County in the northeastern corner of Texas. Marshall is a major cultural and educational center in East Texas and the tri-state area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of Marshall was about 23,523...

, in 1898 as the first of five children, a farmer's son, and grandson and great-grandson of African-American slaves. One of his earliest childhood memories, he later said, was watching a 17-year old black boy being lynched after being "accused of impregnating a white girl." His job at a saw mill supported a large family. At the sawmill, his employer convinced him to sign an X

X

X is the twenty-fourth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Uses:In mathematics, x is commonly used as the name for an independent variable or unknown value. The usage of x to represent an independent or unknown variable can be traced back to the Arabic word šay شيء = “thing,” used in Arabic...

 on a paper he could not read, which he later surmised must have made some claim that he was ineligible for military service

Military service

Military service, in its simplest sense, is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, whether as a chosen job or as a result of an involuntary draft . Some nations require a specific amount of military service from every citizen...

. After turning 21, he traveled extensively throughout the US, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, and Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

; in 1928, after nine years of travel and work, he returned to find his family had moved away, leaving no clue as to their new home: "I wondered why they hadn’t let me know. Then again, how would they have found me? Even if they’d known where I was, I wouldn’t have been able to read their letter."

He married Elzenia Arnold, a literate woman, and they moved to Dallas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

, where Dawson began to work for the city in road repair, and went on to have seven children, helping them all with their homework despite not knowing how to read. In 1938, he took a job with a dairy, where he worked until his retirement

Retirement

Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...

 at age 79.

Later life

When Dawson was around age 90, a man was making door-to-door visits on behalf of a local adult education program. Dawson overcame his initial reluctance to reveal his illiteracy, telling himself, "All your life you’ve wanted to read. Maybe this is why you’re still around." On first meeting instructor Carl Henry, a retired teacher, he learned that the oldest student to that time had been a woman in her fifties. Dawson learned to read and even went on to study for his GED at age 103. He died on July 5, 2001, after suffering a stroke.

Fame

His autobiography, Life Is So Good (co-written with Richard Glaubman), was published in 2000 and received attention in the national media. He appeared on Oprah

The Oprah Winfrey Show

The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....

and told his story in the June 2001 issue of the inspirational magazine Guideposts

Guideposts

Guideposts is a Christian-faith based non-profit organization founded in 1945 by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Raymond Thornburg, and Peale's wife, Ruth Stafford Peale. The Guideposts organization is headquartered in Carmel, New York, with additional offices in New York City, Chesterton, Indiana, and...

.

Dawson was posthumously honored when the Carroll Independent School District

Carroll Independent School District

The Carroll Independent School District is an independent PK-12 school district serving the city of Southlake, Texas and portions of northwest Grapevine, far northern Colleyville, and eastern Westlake.-History:...

 named a middle school

Middle school

Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...

 after him in Southlake

Southlake, Texas

Southlake is a city in northeast Tarrant and southeast Denton counties, Texas. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 26,575. A suburb of Fort Worth and Dallas, Southlake is known for exemplary public schools, Southlake Town Square, and Carroll High School's 7-time state champion football...

.