Dawn Neville

Our beloved Dawn was born in Grinnell, IA on January 24th many years ago. She passed peacefully on January 26th in Dallas, TX. A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, July 24, 2021 at 3:00 PM at Kruse-Phillips Funeral Home in Tama with Pastor Jill Mack officiating. Interment will follow at Ivy Hill Cemetery in Malcom. Visitation will be held prior to the service from 1-3 PM at the funeral home.

Dawn was an incredible woman, she had the thirst for adventure as a young girl. Finding adventure in the books she read, drawings she rendered, or the ones she found head on with both feet right in the middle of the action. Some may describe her as a wanderer, but she was both a hippie and a cowboy. She had a love for fine arts and her family. She loved all genres of music. She had a creative mind like no one else. She attended South Tama High school and college at University of Northern Iowa. When an opportunity came up to take an art trip travelling the country. She grasped at the chance to spend a summer on a travelling bus going anywhere with a destination headed south. Once home, Iowa could not hold her anymore. While working with GTE, she found herself in a truck with a few friends bound for Texas. Perhaps she’d find a cowboy of her own, like in a romance novel. They arrived in a small town of Farmersville. A few years after she was in Texas, she did in fact meet a cowboy of her own. They married and had a daughter, Angel. They purchased a home and acreage, and made a horse stable. The marriage dissolved in divorce. If y’all know Dawn, she was not one to stand down. Her stubborn streak showed through. She began Dawns’ Desert Designs; later to become enigma artist and Neville Farm in Texas. Teaching riding lessons. She started painting shirts with trichem paints. For a little while she had a weekly ladies group come over and paint shirts with her. She also boarded horses on her property.

She did have health issues, but she pushed through for as long as she could. Still trying to draw whatever came to mind, even when her hands began to shake. In 2011, she became a Nana to Tatum. She was very proud to wear that Grandma title. As long as she wasn’t called Grandma. She’d say because I’m not that old to be called Grandma. As Tatum grew she was able to pass on her love and legacy of drawing.

Dawn loved her family dearly and was so very proud. She left a hole only Dawn can leave in each of our hearts. May we think of her often, remember her smile, and warmth that she filled our lives with. When you take your next adventure, be sure to think of Dawn. She loved seeking adventure around every corner or at the turn of every page.

She is preceded in death by her father, O. Wayne Neville; and step father Arthur Goeke.

Survived by her mother, Nedra Neville of Grinnell, IA; sister Vickie Neville of Omaha, NE; brother, Wayne and wife Ann Neville of Tipton, IA; daughter, Angel Henry; and grandson Tatum Henry of Wylie, TX; niece, Katelyn “Katie” Neville and family, and niece, Ashley Macourbie and family.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Wieting Theatre c/o Kruse-Phillips Funeral Home.