My mother has a great line about women such as Dawn Coe-Jones:
Dawn was a No-Shit Shirley.
There was no pretense or ambiguity about Dawn. She was a straight arrow, and she’d call out anything that appeared steeped in BS, usually with a well-aimed and funny skewering.
I was sad yesterday to hear of her passing at the age of 56 from cancer.
As this tribute makes clear, the three-time winnner on the LPGA Tour had a directness that could be partly attributed to being a small-town Canadian (she grew up in tiny Lake Cowichan, British Columbia) trying to survive on the road in the United States and in the spotlight on occasion on the LPGA Tour.
Her buggywhip golf swing was a metaphor for her–unique, quick and effective. She was funny, self-deprecating, incredibly smart, honest, a fierce competitor, and incredibly grounded.
As a journalist, I could always count on Dawn for an earnest and straight-up assessment of her game or any topic. After a disappointing round, once she had time to decompress, she would invariably laugh at her own expense. On issues such as gender equality in golf, she didn’t preach or complain–she just spoke with an earnest resolve that was indisputably rooted in common sense.
Dawn was a great example of someone whose approach to life seemed to be: I’m doing it my way, and whatever happens, I’m good with it.
I only got to see her as a tournament golfer. I can’t imagine how great a partner, mother or friend she must have been.
Thank you Dawn for bringing joy to golf, and being a great model.
Picture: www.lpga.com
About Tim O'Connor
