Eddie grew up with challenging circumstances and eventually found himself speaking with Dr. Montgomery, who a friend had suggested that he talk with. During that meeting, Dr. Montgomery had asked Eddie what he wanted, and he simply replied that he wanted to find God and get his life back. Dr. Montgomery looked at him and said “when I was a child, I talked like a child, I reasoned liked a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” This made little sense to him at the time, but it later became apparent that the Lord was working in his life. Two weeks later, Dr. Montgomery asked him to attend Believer’s Chapel in Dallas, Texas. He began to go each Sunday to church and, on the surface, it would appear that this was having little impact in his life. After attending Believer’s Chapel for a few months, Dr. Lewis Johnson was teaching on the reincarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ and during this teaching Dr. Johnson raised his hands up as if he was holding a small baby and he said, “do you know that the small child was God in the flesh?” In this moment, Eddie felt like it he was the only one in the room and he thought, “oh my God, Jesus was real and was alive.” Eddie’s eyes and his heart were opened that day. He went back to his apartment and got on his knees and believed with all his heart that Christ died and rose from the dead to take away his sins and give him eternal life. From that moment forward, there was nothing else that he wanted in his life but Jesus Christ. Not too long after, his grandmother, whom he was close with, revealed to him that she had been praying for his salvation for years. God indeed had a plan and had been working in Eddie’s life.
Eddie’s life took a different trajectory from that point forward. He could not get enough of the Word of God. He took every class that the church offered, and he wanted the whole world to know about the Lord Jesus Christ. He shared the Gospel whenever he had a chance. Eddie would talk about what a joyful experience it was knowing that God was using him in the lives of others and that his love for the Lord was the only thing that kept him going. Throughout his life, the Lord was his first thought in the morning and his last thought at night. The joy of God’s grace in his life often brought him to tears and it was with a sweet humility that he couldn’t wait to share this good news with everyone whom he came in contact with until the very end; or as Eddie believed, the beginning.
Eddie is survived by his wife of 47 years, Dorothy, as well as his children, David Dawson, Ryan and Jacquelyn Dawson, Kathryn and Joshua Vander Maten, and Kristine and Joel Morgan. Known as Papa, Eddie is also survived by his eight grandchildren, Grace, Sarah, Noah, Rylan, Jonah, Chandler, Hadleigh, and Collins.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Psalm 118:24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
A graveside service will be held at 10:30 a.m., Friday, July 22, 2022, at Ridgeview Memorial Park, 2525 Central Expressway North, Allen, Texas 75013.
There is a come-and-go visitation from 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Thursday, July 21, 2022, at Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Funeral Home, 2525 Central Expressway North, Allen, Texas 75013.