Jeanne G. (Cashman) Lawton, 83, of Brockton, died peacefully on November 25, 2010. For almost 60 years she was the devoted wife of the late retired Judge James R. Lawton, who died on March 19, 2007. She is survived by her five sons, Judge Mark Edward Lawton (ret.) and his wife Patricia, of Bridgewater; Atty. Thomas D. Lawton, of Bridgewater; Atty. Richard James Lawton and his wife, Michelle, of Falmouth; Robert Sean Lawton and his wife Jeanne, of Brockton; and, Atty. Paul Matthew Lawton, of Brockton. Seven grandchildren also survive her, Patrick O. Lawton, of Bridgewater; U.S. Army Captain Timothy C. Lawton, of New York City; Molly B. Lawton, of Hoboken, New Jersey; Daniel James Lawton, of Boston; Elizabeth J. Lawton, of Falmouth; McKenzie A. Lawton, of Bridgewater; and, Ryan D. Lawton, of Bridgewater.
Born in Brockton on October 9, 1927, she was the daughter of the late Brockton Firefighter John Henry Cashman and Beatrice (Poudrier) Cashman. Her father was the son of Irish immigrants. Her mother was the daughter of French Canadian immigrants. Both sides of her family came to Brockton to work in the city’s shoe factories.
Jeanne Lawton was the sister of the late U.S Army Lt. John Henry Cashman; the late Geneva M. Cashman, of Brockton; Patricia R. “Pat”(Cashman) Robichaud, of East Bridgewater and her late husband, Robert “Bootsie” Robichaud; Lorraine T. (Cashman) Charlebois, of Brockton and her late husband, George; the late George M. Cashman and his widow, Celia (Perrault) Cashman, of Bridgewater; and, the late Donald R. Cashman, and his widow, Joan L. Cashman, of Brockton. She is also survived by twenty-seven nieces and nephews. Jeanne Lawton was a 1945 graduate of Brockton High School. The last public event she attended was her 65th Brockton High School graduation held five months ago in Plymouth.
Until her marriage to disabled World War II veteran “Jimmy” Lawton, on October 16, 1948, she lived in the same home she was born in on Brockton’s East Side. It was from her East Side home that she walked every day to visit her badly burned father at the Brockton Hospital, the late John Henry Cashman, a Brockton Firefighter for 41 years, who survived the Strand Theatre Fire of March 10, 1941, a fire that took the lives of 13 Brockton Firefighters. It was also at the front door of her East Side home that she received word of the death of her oldest brother, 22 year old U.S. Army Lt. John Henry Cashman, Jr., who while under the command of General George Patton, was killed in-action in Tunisia, North Africa, fighting the German Army. Several streets in Brockton are currently named after the late Lt. Cashman.
At the time of her marriage in 1948, her husband was the youngest person ever elected to the Brockton City Council. In 1952, “Jimmy” Lawton, a professional entertainer and well known mimic of famous people, was elected to his first of five terms to the Massachusetts House. Shortly after his election to the legislature her husband graduated from law school. It was during this time that Mrs. Lawton gave birth to her five sons.
In 1962 she campaigned tirelessly with her late husband, “Jimmy” Lawton, who was the Democratic nominee for Attorney General. She travelled the state with the wives of Ted Kennedy, ‘Chub’ Peabody and Frank Bellotti, who were the nominees for U.S. Senate, Governor and Lt. Governor, respectively.
In 1963, while serving as Governor Endicott Peabody’s Registrar of Motor Vehicles, Jim Lawton had the occasion to do something that was the subject of a story in the old Herald American newspaper. Upon hearing from the two oldest of his five sons that “mom was speeding again”, he immediately revoked his wife’s license to operate her motor vehicle. Within a few days she was driving again, however.
In 1969, Jim Lawton became the Chairman of the Board of the New England School of Law/Boston. During his 37 year tenure as Chairman, Mrs. Lawton never missed a law school event or an opportunity to encourage a future member of the Massachusetts Bar. Nor did she miss any events involving her own children or grandchildren. More recently, she was committed to flying to Savannah, Georgia, to bid her grandson farewell on each of his four tours of combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan with the United States Army, as well as following every one of her granddaughter’s cross-country races for the University of Chicago.
Funeral from the Conley Funeral Home, 138 Belmont Street (Rt. 123), Brockton, Mass. Tuesday at 8am, followed by a Funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, at 9am. Burial in Calvary Cemetery, Brockton. Visiting hours will be Monday 2 to 8pm. Memorials may be made to the “Judge James R. Lawton Scholarship Fund”, New England School of Law, 154 Stuart Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116.