He died much as he lived. The Sunnyvale resident, 41, passed away Aug. 10 while visiting Guatemala with his wife, Kristy. The couple was there to meet a child they planned to adopt, even though their son, Tyler, is still an infant. To Golden, this is exemplary of Dawson's philosophy.

"This was not the ideal time, but it just happened," she says. The Dawsons had placed their names on a waiting list to adopt several years ago, unsure of whether Lance's health problems would allow him to father children. They were surprised at Tyler's arrival, but when the adoption agency came calling, they didn't back down from their earlier promise. Dawson had also been laid off in December, but he didn't use that as an excuse.

"He just said, 'I'm going to find a job, even if it's at McDonald's,'" she says. "He didn't worry about having two kids in diapers." This ability to roll with life's punches led Dawson on a meandering path from day one. He grew up in Virginia and moved to the Bay Area with his family after high school. He took on a string of diverse jobs, including a position as the manager of Coco's Family Restaurant as well as a nightclub dancer and comedian throughout Sunnyvale.

Unfortunately, Dawson's bout with juvenile diabetes escalated and became much more serious, leading to blindness in his twenties. He then enrolled in a communications program at De Anza College, where he met his future wife, who was assigned to serve as his reader. He later graduated with a B.A. from San Jose State University.

He worked as a public speaker for 17 years, educating corporations on the Americans with Disabilities Act and giving motivational speeches. "All he needed to do was tap into his life experiences," says Golden.

Dawson also channeled his disabilities into community service. He worked as an informal spokesman for the United Way of Silicon Valley and was a member of the 1999 class of Leadership Sunnyvale.

Laura Babcock of the Board of Directors of Leadership Sunnyvale greatly admired Dawson's bravery. "He was the first and only blind person to graduate from Leadership Sunnyvale," she says. "He did more in his 41 years than others do in 81."

Babcock also mentions Dawson's riotous sense of humor as one of his defining characteristics, something Golden affirms. He had a tendency to crack up a room of people, but also found time to enjoy his own interests, including San Francisco Giants baseball, music and his son. "He loved spending time with his son because Tyler's always happy," Golden says. "He wished that more people would choose to be happy. He saw it as a choice. That was completely Lance."

A service for Lance Dawson was held Aug. 19 at 2 p.m. at Los Altos United Methodist Church. Donations in his memory can be made to the Peninsula Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Palo Alto or the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in Sacramento.