Dawn M. Lemon Hipple

February 7 1935 - May 28 1985

Born in White Bear Lake Minnesota Dawn was the youngest daughter of Harold Wilson Lemon and Iva Ellen Puett Lemon. She survived scarlet fever as a small child but the illness left her as bald as her daddy for over a year. She was doted on by her father and maternal uncle and mesmerized by her sisters who were 8 and 10 years her senior. Dawn was a confirmed "city kid."

Her family moved to South Dakota when she was a child to pursue her mother's dream of owning a farm but her father a skilled mechanic was no farmer. Consequently their farm life was impoverished and frustrating. Dawn hated the deprivations and isolation of the farm. Although she attended a one room school near Woonsocket South Dakota where she met her "favorite" teacher it was not until her move to Huron as a teen that she grew to appreciate South Dakota. At Huron High she could pursue her love of English poetry interpretive reading and drama.

It was also in Huron that Dawn met and married J. Blair Hipple; the couple relocated to St. Paul Minnesota in 1950 to work and raise a family. By the age of 26 Dawn was the mother of three daughters and one son. (She adopted her fifth child Toby Jonn in 1980.) For nearly 30 years Dawn worked outside the home. She began with clerical work at Brown and Bigelow in St. Paul was a clerk at Hanson's Drug Store near her home in Circle Pines and then became a Correctional Officer at the Minnesota Girls' Reformatory when it opened in Lino Lakes in 1964. She also served as an Aide to severely handicapped children at Gillette State Hospital and as a store detective at Target. These things she did to support her family but her passion was for selling Real Estate.

In 1970 Dawn relocated to Davenport, Iowa with her husband and children where she studied for her Real Estate license and later for her Broker's license and started a Real Estate business in the Quad Cities. Dawn was enthralled by the business. She prided herself on working with first-time home buyers not a lucrative niche but one that Dawn found particularly rewarding and she enjoyed training and encouraging new sales staff. Friends and relatives remember her as a quiet non-judgmental listener who when advice was sought could give insightful suggestions. She had a wonderful sense of humor and a playful spirit.

She loved the arts and "factions" or historical novels. She also loved to travel and enjoyed taking short trips pretending to be wealthy for a day. Incredibly perceptive and intelligent herself she set high educational standards for her children. She would engage us with dramatic readings from the Children's Treasury of Literature and would recite poetry from memory. And all this she did while contending with our numerous childhood diseases accidents follies and embarrassments.

Dawn Marie Lemon Hipple died of metastatic cancer on May 28, 1985 at the age of 50. She was much too young. Her life and her death taught us all a great deal about courage. For these reasons she truly is a heroine! Dawn was the mother of Patricia C. Hipple, Ph.D. 1996.

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