Katie Louise Dawson Herndon -- Hospital and University Employee

 

Katie Dawson Herndon

Katie Louise Dawson was born on July 2, 1919 in Trigg County, Kentucky. She was the oldest of two daughters born to Roy Dawson and Roberta Darl Carr Dawson.  Roy had worked as a farmer, mechanic and a carpenter and both he and Roberta were natives of Trigg County.  . Katie was a descendant of Drewry Bridges. 

Katie’s sibling was Eddie Grace Dawson, born in 1921 and married Lawrence Eugene Bridges.

Although born in Christian County, Katie’s family moved to Trigg County when she was young and she attended the rural Trigg schools and graduated as valedictorian from Trigg County High School in 1939.  She went on to graduate from Murray State University where she received her teaching degree.

On June 2, 1942, Katie married Clarence Woodrow Herndon in Corpus Christi, Texas.  Woodrow and Katie both grew up in Trigg County but had never met there.  Woodrow had moved to Hazel, Kentucky where he had graduated from Hazel High School in 1936 and had attended Murray State.  Woodrow was born on September 2, 1917 in the Canton community of Trigg County.  He was the son of Seldon Smith Herndon and Jessie Victoria Gower Herndon.  Seldon was a carpenter and a native of Trigg County.  Jessie was a native of Calloway County, Kentucky.

Woodrow enlisted in the U.S. Navy on November 16, 1937 and received his basic training at Great Lakes, Illinois.  He served on several ships in the Atlantic and Pacific and was honorably discharged on November 3, 1941 as an aviation radioman first class.  Less than a month later, Pearl Harbor was bombed and Woodrow was again called for service and he re-enlisted in the Navy on March 19, 1942.  He was stationed at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi when he married Katie.  He served on several ships in the Pacific area including at Okinawa.  After more than nine years he received his last honorable discharge from the Navy in March 1946.

Katie and Woodrow settled in Murray where he went back to school at Murray State, and earned his bachelor’s degree in 1949.  He worked as an instructor in the Electronics Department at Murray State for two years and then accepted a position with Union Carbide Corporation in Paducah, Kentucky.  Katie and Woodrow continued to live in Murray while he commuted to his job in Paducah for 29 years until his retirement.  Katie worked at the Murray-Calloway County Hospital and at Murray State for several years.

Katie and Woodrow were the parents of four children, Clarence Woodrow Herndon, Jr. born in 1943 and married Donna Ruth Grogan; Robert Michael Herndon, born in 1947 and married Jen Elizabeth Brady; Nancy Carol Herndon, born in 1955 and married Steven Lane Herndon and later married Dennis N. Whittaker; and Elizabeth Ann Herndon, born in 1960 and married Loyren American Horse.

Woodrow died on May 14, 2006 at the age of 88 at the Murray-Calloway County Hospital in Murray.  He was buried in the Murray City Cemetery. Katie died on June 16, 2012 at the age of 92 at the Mills Health and Rehabilitation Center in Mayfield, Kentucky.  She was buried in the Murray City Cemetery next to her husband.

Katie and Woodrow

 

Young Katie and Woodrow at MSU

 

Katie and Woodrow tombstone

LINEAGE: (Katie Louise Dawson was the daughter of Roy and Roberta Darl Carr Dawson.  Roberta was the first child of Meredith Clay and Eddie Adeline Bridges Carr.  Eddie Adeline was the eleventh child of Drewry and Peachie Ann Tart Bridges.  Drewry was the fourth child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)