A celebration of life service for Dawn Joy Carlson will be held on September 30, 2017 at 2:00 pm at the Lancaster Covenant Church. Interment will be in Riverview Memorial Garden Cemetery, Lancaster.

Dawn was born April 8, 1970, the daughter of Duane and Darlene Carlson and grew up in Lancaster Minnesota.  She graduated from Lancaster Public School in 1988.  While attending school, Dawn was active in sports, excelling in golf and competed in the state golf tournament.  In her lifetime, Dawn also attended several secondary schools and programs, graduated from Northland Community College and attended State Cloud University; she played on the women's golf team for both colleges.

Dawn worked many jobs during her life; she worked as a nanny, waitress, bartender, golf course maintenance worker and in the pro shop, at a wood manufacturing plant, and as a bank teller to name a few.  One of the highlights of Dawn's life was passing the playing ability test (PAT) in 2001 to become a golf pro while working in her chosen career at the Saint Cloud Country Club pro shop. In 2002 she took a job as the Assistant Manager/Head Pro at the Cuyuna Country Club in Deerwood Minnesota for one year and moved to the Twin Cities area in April 2003.  Dawn moved home to Lancaster in 2006 after resigning her job because of health problems.  Dawn discovered her many health problems were due to a deer tick bite causing tick borne infections/lyme disease. She dedicated the rest of her shortened life to advocating for lyme disease awareness. Dawn loved the outdoors, enjoying golfing, hunting and fishing. Dawn also dabbled in painting, enjoyed playing cards and spending time with her dogs.

Family members that survive Dawn are her mother Darlene Carlson, Lancaster MN; sister: DeAnn (Daniel Ekdahl) Carlson, Lake Bronson, MN; brother, Dean (Mary) Carlson, Lancaster MN; niece and nephews: Sondra Carlson, Kyle Carlson, Will Ekdahl and Seth Ekdahl.  She was preceded in death by her father Duane Carlson.