Joseph Lawlor in 1918 as a Captain in the Army
Navy Seabees Commander Joseph Lawlor pictured when stationed in the South Pacific during WW II
|--------Phenton LAWLOR (Ireland - Ireland)
|
|---------Daniel LAWLOR (1813, Ireland - 1896, Iowa)
| |
| |--------
|
|------Patrick Joseph LAWLOR (1854, Iowa - 1933)
| |
| | |--------
| | |
| |---------Mary L. DUNN (1811, Ireland - 1904)
| |
| |--------
|
Joseph Patrick LAWLOR (1893, Iowa - )
|
| |--------
| |
| |---------
| | |
| | |--------
| |
|------Mary ZISMER (1872 - )
|
| |--------
| |
|---------
|
|--------
Joseph attended South Dakota State College in 1915 and 1916.
He received his bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from
the University of Illinois. After serving in WWI as an infantry
captain, 1918-1919, he resumed his engineering career. He became
assistant manager of Dakota Engineering Co. in Memphis Tenn. in 1921;
vice-president of Layne Arkansas Co.; and was secretary-treasurer of
Layne Central Co. from 1922-1930, and vice-president and general
manager from 1930-1934. In 1934 and 1935 he was chief engineer at
Thorpe Well Co. in Des Moines. Joseph and Loretto moved to Ames
in 1933.
As a Navy commander during WW II Joseph Lawlor commanded the
92nd SeaBee Battalion that built an airfield on Tinian Island in the
South Pacific. It was from this base that the Enola Gay launched its
bombing run to drop the first atomic bomb on Japan.
Lawlor organized General Filter Company at Ames in 1935 and
remained president until 1958. He was assistant professor of civil
engineering at Iowa State College in 1942-1943. Besides serving as
six years as councilman and four years as mayor of Ames, Lawlor was
active in many civic organizations, was president of the Iowa
Taxpayers Association, and a trustee of the Iowa League of
Municipalities. With his wife, Loretto Wiesman, the Lawlors had four
children: Marguerite, Joseph Patrick, Conrad, and Leo. After 1958 the
Lawlors moved to Florida to retire.
Sources for this individual: @S858@ @S565@
