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Lawrence Charles Hawkins, Jr. December 17, 1944 – May 27, 2020
Lawrence Charles Hawkins, Jr. was born December 17, 1944 in Cincinnati, Ohio to the union of Dr. Lawrence Charles Hawkins, Sr. and Madora Earline Thompson Hawkins. Lawrence, who devoted himself to God, his family and serving others, departed this life on May 27, 2020.
Lawrence, who was affectionately called "Lonnie" by family and friends, grew up in a loving household with his younger brother, Wendell. At a young age Lonnie began participating in many activities including basketball, baseball, fencing, ping pong, tennis, volleyball and playing the trumpet.
He graduated from Walnut Hills in 1962 and continued his education at The University of Cincinnati. He graduated from UC in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Psychology. During his years at UC, he joined the United States Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corp. After graduation, he headed to his first Air Force assignment, which was pilot training at Reece Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas. After six months of flight school, he was transferred to Wichita, Kansas, where he served as Supply Operations Officer at McConnell Air Force Base for four years. In June of 1971, Lonnie earned the rank of Captain and his honorable discharge from the Air Force.
His love for Karate occurred during college when his curiosity made him wander into Yoseikan Karate School in Covington, Kentucky. He fell in love with the art and became a licensed instructor. He opened his own dojo, Yoseikan II Karate School in 1972 and, as Chief Instructor, achieved the rank of eighth degree black belt.
Upon his return to Cincinnati in 1971, Lonnie was hired by Procter & Gamble as a buyer. During that time he rose through the ranks from Buyer to Director of Global Contract Manufacturing. He retired from P&G in 2000. While working at P&G, he began studies at The Salmon P. Chase College of Law. He received his Juris Doctorate and was admitted to the bar in November 1975. Upon retirement from P&G, he continued his private practice of law.
Lonnie was a devoted servant leader of church his entire life. In elementary school his family attended First Baptist Church in Walnut Hills, then moved to Gaines United Methodist Church in Madisonville, where he served as president of the Methodist Youth Fellowship, and later on The Board of Trustees, Pastor Parish Relations Committee and Trustee of the Gaines Memorial Endowment Fund. More recently, Lonnie was a member of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Montgomery where he served as a Vestry Member.
Lonnie, blessed with a keen sense of humor and an erudite vocabulary, was always the life of the party. He was loquacious, dignified, and impactful. He delighted in coaching others to become their “best self.” To say he was smart is an understatement. There wasn’t much he didn’t know, including a penchant for languages. His wit was quick and pointed and left others speechless. One of his favorite retorts was, “You have to admit that it was ‘objectively’ funny!” He generously gave to others and delighted in finding them the “perfect” gift. He traveled extensively and particularly liked beach locales. He enjoyed family gatherings, sumptuous meals and fine dining.
His other passion was giving the gift of music to others through his life-long love affair of the trumpet. It’s been told that as a child he once showed up for a recital at First Baptist, but had purposely forgotten the key to his trumpet case, thus missing his opportunity to perform... to the chagrin of his parents. Lonnie started playing his trumpet in his youth for church recitals and The Walnut Hills High School Band. When he was in ROTC in high school he also frequently played “Taps” for military holiday programs. Lonnie’s enjoyment of performing for an audience sparked his recruitment of other musicians. He formed the “Under Cover” jazz band in 1995. Under Cover performed at community events for many years... often gratis because they just loved playing.
Lonnie’s community service included his membership in the Boule Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Wesley Child Care Center Board, Walnut Hills High School Alumni Associate Trustee, Kids Helping Kids Board of Trustees, Dohn Community High School Board, and Board President of ProKids – to name just a few of his many community contributions.
Lonnie was preceded in death by his parents, Dr. Lawrence Sr. and Earline and his brother Wendell Hawkins. Lonnie leaves to cherish his memory his devoted wife, Jane, of 32 years; their daughter Lauren and his son Lawrence III (Nicole); Grandchildren Leah and Lawrence IV. Lonnie will also be dearly missed by a host of cousins, nieces, nephews, brothers-in- law, sisters-in-law, and a community of friends.
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Marjorie Miller (Smith)
I am so sorry to hear of Lonnie's death. He was such a wonderful addition to our class. He will be forever missed by those who knew him. He was always fun- loving, sweet, kind, and loved by all who knew him.
Blessings for his family. He will not be forgotten. Margie MillerSmith ❤️🙏❤️
Roger Rasmussen
What a loss! I was lucky to know Lonnie through the WHHS band. I also met his father when I was doing research on the Cincinnati Public Schools in the 1970s. They both proved through their lives that it is possible to be upright AND successful.
Dale Lawrence
Lonnie's Two Generations of Ties to WHHS:
Lawrence ("Lonnie") Hawkins, our classmate, entered WHHS as a second generation WHHS Eagle. Both of his parents, Lawrence, Sr., and Earline, had graduated in the years leading to World War II. His father had been selected to be among the famed Tuskegee Airmen with whom Lawrence, Sr., was serving when Lonnie was born. In Lonnie's first few months, before his father's discharge from the US Army Air Forces, Lonnie's mother was living with her mother in the Walnut Hills area just a few blocks east of the historic Harriett Beecher Stowe/Lyman Beecher home on Gilbert Avenue, a mere half-mile from the dome of WHHS. Not one mile away from that natal home, was the original WHHS building (Burdette and Ashland Ave intersection).
Inevitably, Lonnie's life was to be intertwined with WHHS and fellow graduates who were collectively demonstrating to Cincinnati, and beyond, what investments in WHHS students could do for the region and world. His mother, a graduate, was the family anchor for Lonnie and his younger brother, Wendell. His "Eagle" father's immense lifetime contribution to the Cincinnati Public School System as teacher, principal/administrator -- serving the city's most disadvantaged students -- led to a Vice-Presidency at the University of Cincinnati. When I learned that WHHS would induct Lawrence, Sr., into the Hall of Fame at a gala celebration in 2007, I rememered their family's hospitality to me In the early 1960s and I ask WHHS to introduce him for the award. Present at the award were a large number of the Hawkins clan, including Lonnie's first wife, Lillian Hall, a member of the WHHS Class of 1966.
Lonnie at WHHS:
As mentioned by Roger Rasmussen, above, we knew Lonnie best through his humor, genuine gentlemanliness and especially musicology. Lonnie, I and Norbert ("Buddy") Bogart constituted the First Trumpets Section of the Marching Band, Pep Band and Concert Band. In the fall of 1961, members of our class presented the Peanuts production and, in the subsequent school year, the Walnuts production. Our Peanuts "pit" orchestra performed quite a number of popular tunes. Perhaps best remembered in later years was the exuberant rendition of "Tiger Rag" and "When the Saints Go Marching In". Classmates James Thomas (trombone providing the Tiger's 'growl'), Myron Hamilton (tuba), Buddy Hertzman (Clarinet), David Jarman (saxophone) and Roger Rasmussen (flute/piccolo) embellished the numbers with their own solos -- leading to rousing finales.
Lonnie's trumpet style was electrifying when he "cut loose" with crystal clear notes reaching the highest octaves with force and brilliance. Well versed in the various styles of famous trumpeters and cornetists of the early- and mid-20th Century, he could reprroduce classical, modern, popular and jazz age melodies. including a stellar version of the cha-cha number, "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" trumpet solo.
Lonnie's Experiences at the University of Cincinnati and in the USAF:
Many of our Class of '62 classmates matriculated that fall at the U. of Cincinnati. Lonnie and I were, again, trumpeters -- this time in the U.C. Reserve Officer Training Corps band. Lonnie followed his father's footsteps and enrolled in the full four-year Air Force ROTC program, while I was in the Army ROTC for two.
During those years, our nation was in the upheaval that necessitate strong new civil rights laws. Lonnie's family were postitioned to know well the ongoing events of tragic and yet inspiring courage. As Lonnie majored in psychology at U.C. he was deepening his innate sense of empathy for all persons in need. He sought an outlet for his athletic strength, discipline and strong sense of rectitude. He began the lifelong pursuit of excellence in the discipline of Karate. Eventually this Karate pursuit beginning while a U.C. student, resulted in his earning an 8th degree Black Belt rank and his creating in a Cincinnati suburb his own Dojo (academy-studio) where he taught students of all ages to find focus, respect, honor, commitment and integrity. For an enormous number of them, their training at Lonnie's Dojo gave their lives stability, purpose and inspiration.
After four years of USAF service, Captain Lawrence Hawkins became an official with Proctor and Gamblie, rising to Director of Global Contracting and the attendant responsibilities. At night, Lonnie earned his law degree. His innate sense of right, fairness and justice now was corroborated by a law degree and bar exam. Before he retired from P&G to form a law practice with his son, Lawrence, III, he met a P&G employee, Jane, who became his devoted wife of 30 years and the mother of their daughter, Lauren. Jane had witnessed repeatedly Lonnie's articulate, diplomatic and firm contributions in the predominantly white P&G boardroom sessions. He had the courage and skills to convey to the boards that they had a responsibility as an international conglomerate to demonstrate sensitivity to racial and social justice during all corporate endeavors.
Lonnie's contributions -- Musically and otherwise -- to inspire others in Cincinnti:
He created a community orchestra/band that included musicians from all walks of life. Upon any request from him, those musicians assembled for benefit concerts on behalf of the City of Cincinnti and various churches and civic groups conducting fund-raising events or other special occasions. In Ocober 2011, my son and I learned of a pending concert and we interrupted a transcontinental road trip to come to Cincinnati for one of these concerts.
But perhaps his most inspiring role was as a long-term Board member and then President of Cincinnati's ProKids, a community charitable organization provding crucial emotional, social and administrating support to struggling youth in the Cincinnati foster care system. In a beautiful tribute to him by another WHHS alumna, Tracy Cook, Executive Director of ProKids, she echoed the sentiments of his impact on all who encountered Lonnie. Clearly, there were thousands in Cincinnati who were directly inspired for a better life by Lonnie's courage, integrity, kindness, empathy and public/private charity.
A Lasting Memory Lonnie Carried for a Half-Century after his WHHS Graduation:
In approximately 1964 or '65, Lonnie was walking across the U.C. campus when he recognized that the young woman approaching him was a member of our WHHS Class whom he hadn't seen since graduation night, June 1962. She enthusiastically greeted him by name, walked up and gave him a hug and they tarried to talk for a few minutes. Lonnie told me in 2011 that, startled to unexpectly encounter her, he welcomed her genuine gesture of friendship and respect. But, as he reminded me, in the early 1960's in Cincinnati -- a time when Cincinnati Public High Schools were required to use the book by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who was actively tracking the movements of Martin Luther King, Jr., whom he classified as a subversive -- this brief public gesture of affection Lonnie had received from a woman across the racial divide was rarely experienced on campus by African-American men. He told me her name but, alas, I have forgotten it. He said to e that he regretted that his startled and cautious response to her greeting may have left her unaware of how profoundly he felt her gesture and greeting had demonstarted her immense respect for the dignity of all humans and her strength of conviction to transcend local norms. We mused that perhaps a bit of the human values she had demonstrated that day might have been strengthened by her WHHS education.
Respectfully submitted,
Dale N. Lawrence, MD
North Bethesda, MD.
Janet Hyman (Ach)
Dale, thank you for axing this beautiful tribute about Lonnie!
Dale Lawrence
Janet (and other classmates/friends of Lonnie): It was my privilege to know him and to learn more of his contributions as the years went by. A draft of my tribute was discussed with his wife and former wife -- both of whom co-wrote the obituary that is so moving and accurate. I focused on his WHHS connections (especially musical), I wish I could identify our classmate whose kindness in 1964, approximately, so impressed him.
Bernard Hertzman
Thank you Dale for that moving description of Lonnie's life and contributions. All of us continue to be enriched by such a person and indeed it was a pleasure knowing him. The WHHS Band was one of my loves. His involvement made it an even more special experience. May his memory be for a blessing.
Stanley Hertzman
Dale et al,
I didn't know Lonnie very well, but after reading your exquite rememberance, I certainly feel more acquainted with him. I knew some of his history, second hand, but you had the enjoyment and pleasure of his friendship.
That all said, he was a very friendly, warm and sincere man, even at a distance.
Thanks for the words and wonderfully written tribute.
Stan