George Dawson

Amazing.

Amazing? 98 you say!

Couldn’t read or write til then. For 98 years, he signed his name using an X.

Why do people sign with an X. I mean I know it’s when they can’t write. But why X?

It represents the signature of one who can’t sign their own name. Disability or whatever. Someone who is illiterate.

Legal?

It’s legal.

So he got literate, that is, he learned to read and write, at age 98, and published a book at 102 saying life is good.

Those are only the facts. But the feelings! This is a man gone nearly a hundred years and suddenly he can read and sign his name “George Dawson” and even with a little help write a book. And when he says things like, “My first day of school was January 4, 1996. I was ninety-eight years old and I’m still going....I’m up by five-thirty to make my lunch, pack my books, and go over my schoolwork. Books was something missing from my life for so long....I learned to read my ABC’s in two days -- I was in a hurry....Now I am a man that can read.”

Never too late?

Never. George’s story would make anybody feel inspired.
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