Скачать или смотреть A Memorial for John Paul Dotson 2020

John Paul Dotson. 1935-2020

John Paul Dotson, 84, died Tuesday, April 14 at his home in Houston following a long illness.

He leaves his wife of 37 years, Sharon (Butler) Dotson; his children, John Randolph, David Dotson and Whitney Randolph, all of Houston, and Amanda Douglass of Austin; his wife's children, Madelyn Gengelbach of Kansas City and John Gengelbach of Houston; his grandchildren Will and Nick Douglass and John and Jacob Dotson; his brother James Dotson of Lagrange, Ohio and cousin Bryan Selbe of Charleston, W.Va.; and numerous nieces and nephews.

John was born and reared in Charleston, the son of Jacob Paul and Virginia Etta (Lewis) Dotson. He earned his undergraduate degree from Ohio State University which he attended on a full Naval ROTC scholarship. After a 12-year stint in the Navy he returned to OSU and earned a law degree (JD).
"Big John," as some called him, made friends wherever he went: to a Vietnamese mountain settlement populated by hostile villagers; to a surgical suite in a Houston hospital where he was about to go under the knife. And much later, when he could no longer drive, he made fast friends with every Uber driver who showed up to take him to the doctor.

For most of his life, John made a living as an attorney, starting with a small-town law practice in Ohio. He was lured to Houston by the oil boom of the 1970s and '80s, and for almost 40 years he traveled the world negotiating for many top industry players. Even so, until the last day of his life, it was Lieutenant Dotson's experience as a Naval aviator that most captivated his imagination. He flew Sikorsky Sea King helicopters and F-4 Phantom Fighter jets and always counted the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis as his most heart-stopping assignment.

Published in Houston Chronicle on May 3, 2020.