Frank H. Lawson, suburban dentist

Frank H. Lawson, 92, of Wynnewood, a suburban dentist for 52 years, died Tuesday, June 18 - the eve of his 65th wedding anniversary - of an infection at Riddle Village in Media.

Starting in 1946, Dr. Lawson practiced from a home office on Henley Road, drawing three generations of the same families from as far away as North Jersey. He answered the phone, kept the books, and was on duty weekdays, a half-day Saturday, and two nights a week.

When patients had money problems, he bartered or lowered his fees, said his son Philip.

Children liked to visit because he gave out plaster figurines of Disney characters for them to paint. He preferred Mickey Mouse over the lollipops that were standard office fare for youngsters at that time.

"He said he didn't want to drum up" business, his son recalled.

Patients collected the figures, which Dr. Lawson cast himself in rubber molds in his basement. His son said that years later, patients would encounter Dr. Lawson and remark, "I still have my Goofy."

Dr. Lawson graduated in 1943 from the University of Pennsylvania Dental School with a degree in dental surgery.

That year he was commissioned a lieutenant senior grade in the Navy. He served aboard the Proteus, a diesel submarine tender that sailed through the Panama Canal to the Pacific Ocean and returned to Jacksonville, Fla.

While stationed in Williamsburg, Va., he performed dentistry for German prisoners of war and Navy personnel. He served several years in the Navy Reserve before being honorably discharged in 1953.

Dr. Lawson taught the mechanics of dentistry at Penn for seven years ending in the mid-1950s. He retired from practice in the late 1990s.

He was a member of the Baronial Order of Magna Charta, the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, and the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution.

He was a Mason and a member of Delta Sigma Delta, Omicron Kappa, and Upsilon.

Dr. Lawson enjoyed building dollhouses and model cars, some of which he gave away. "He was really good with arts and crafts," his son said.

He married the former Elizabeth Wilson Jack. She died in 2010 at age 84.

Besides his son, he is survived by another son, Lance A.; two grandchildren; and a sister.

Dr. Lawson donated his body to science through the Humanity Gifts Registry. Services were private.