<b>Alumnus John "Marmaduke" Dawson '63, 1945-2009</b>

John "Marmaduke" Dawson was a singer and songwriter, well known for founding New Riders of the Purple Sage, a band which became a regular opening act for the Grateful Dead. In fact, co-founders of New Riders of the Purple Sage included David Nelson and Jerry Garcia, and Mickey Hart and Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead were also briefly members of the band.

John traveled across the U.S. from California to enter Millbrook in 1959. While here, he was a member of the Glee Club and Photo Service, and also worked as a staff member for the Silo. An interview done his senior year for the Tamarack clearly demonstrates his love of music:

John sat on the edge of his bed picking an obscure melody from Sing Out on a guitar. In front of him was a bag of sunflower seeds to appease his ravenous hunger. Allan Towl's sixty-watt stereophonic record player blasted folk songs as background music. On the bed between the sunflower seeds and Sing Out was a history book which John consulted occasionally between verses. He was doing his history homework. In spite of these various distractions while studying, Johnny usually emerged in the upper half of the class.

His preoccupation with music was so strong that conversation with him was often laborious. When a representative of the Tamarack asked John what should be mentioned in his article, for instance, he replied: "I play guitar." Then he burst into a duet with a Joan Baez recording, and a far-away look crept over his face. The Tamarack representative inquired again-no answer. The interview ended.

John never stopped playing the guitar and went on to achieve fame with the New Riders country-rock sound. One of more than a dozen albums, "The Adventures of Panama Red," was released in 1973 and went gold. John also wrote songs, including one with members of the Grateful Dead, "Friend of the Devil," which appeared on the Grateful Dead's 1970 album "American Beauty."

He will be missed.