Mr. James Vernal Dawkins, 69, of Charlotte, NC, departed this life on Sunday, January 26, 2025, at Atrium University.

We often identify a Renaissance person as one who is gifted in the arts. Also known as someone who is knowledgeable and endowed with communication skills to creatively share wisdom about many things. James Dawkins was gifted in both the arts and filled with wisdom.

He lived and breathed his own art, most recently from a space quietly sequestered from the outside world above the garage in the home. Today, we are blessed to see a tiny sampling of his artwork on display.

However, while the artwork is something you can see in this moment, there were other gifts that James shared that will be with us forever. If you ever had the opportunity to sit down and converse with James, he was going to teach you about his four constants, the four most important things in his life. You were going to learn something about his family, beginning with his early years, to the wonderful family he created and raised with his beautiful wife Rita. You were going to learn something about his circle of dedicated friends and his expansive realm of relatives. You were going to learn something about what he chose to do for fun, beginning with those two National Holidays known as the Winston-Salem State University Homecoming and the CIAA Basketball Tournament. Lastly, you were truly going to learn about his faith as demonstrated in his works carried out in a very successful academic career.

James was born in Charlotte, NC on December 13th, 1955 to Arnetta Dawkins. He spent many of his years at his grandparents' home – four-room home not a four-bedroom home at Little Hope. His grandparents, Allen and Edna Dawkins had 5 children: Coleman Dawkins, Robert Dawkins, Lula Givens, Allen Dawkins Jr. and Arnetta Dawkins, James' mother. James was the second oldest of three. He is survived by his brother, William Oscar Dawkins Sr. (Nancy), and their children, Tangela Dawkins and William Dawkins Jr. and Will's son Messiah. He is also survived by his sister, Eva Dawkins, and her children, Niara "Mise" Dawkins and Arnazha "Nay" Dawkins, as well as Nazha's child, Ani. Having been raised to have a strong commitment to family, his willingness to care for family members extended even into James' retirement, reflected in his care for his mom, siblings, Allen Dawkins Jr., and his parents-in-law, Ray and Bernice Rorie.
Yet, in his youthful years, as we were all proud of the high schools we graduated from, if you talked to James more than once, you would know that during his high school era, there was only one reputable high school in Charlotte worthy to graduate from. James was a part of desegregating Sedgefield Middle School. James proudly graduated from Myers Park High School in 1975 excelling inside the classroom in academics and outside the classroom lettering in track and football. He received a football and track scholarship to WSSU.

Again, if you talked to James more than once, you would have also come to know that there was proudly only one university, period, home of the Rams! James graduated from Winston-Salem State University in 1979 with a degree in Visual Arts Instruction, later earning his master's in education from North Carolina A&T State University. For most people, their education translates primarily to a means to generate income and maintain a certain quality of life. On the other hand, James was truly blessed with the opportunity to actively live his faith through his profession as definitely a hands-on art teacher and counselor for Carmel Middle School and West Charlotte High School for 35 years.

James' career as a teacher was deeper than a lesson plan. James had life plans for his students! His willingness to share his own life learnings extended beyond the classroom. He leveraged his personal sports experiences and translated them into coaching careers for both track and soccer. James was coaching soccer long before it was the "cool thing" to do, blazing the trail for others to follow. Coaching gave him the chance to give back what had been given to him by other coaches and an opportunity to extend the lessons and perspectives from his art classroom even further!

While the success we find in our youthful lives is important, there is no comparison to the beauty and the joy his many friends and family members witnessed over the past 36 years as a result of the marriage of James Dawkins and Rita Rorie on August 6th, 1988. Their union brought forth three beautiful and phenomenal children Jayson Rorie Dawkins, his firstborn, and the twins Jarrett Michael Dawkins and Jade Michelle Dawkins. Over the years, from a father's perspective James truly poured into them as a parent, coach, counselor, a man of great wisdom resulting in three successful adults!!! Yet, while children are important, James and Rita were able to find their own special moments with vacation trips alone!

Galatians 6:9 tells us "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up.

When it came to family, James was passionate and protective. We see it in the beautiful family he and Rita created.
When it came to friends, James shared his wisdom, constantly teaching everyone. We are all smarter because of him. He didn't give up.
When it came to his faith, we saw how it extended beyond the walls of Walls Memorial AME Zion Church via his community involvement, and we saw how his faith became a living and breathing practice via his career. He didn't give up.
When it came to fun, James entertained us from the family room and the deck! He didn't give up.

James did not get weary in doing good, even when charged with the smallest tasks or the things he received minimal credit or recognition. James did not give up, even when the rewards were small. Yet, he ultimately reaped many harvests, but all at the proper time.
Now, according to his faith, James reaped the greatest harvest of all, on Sunday, January 26, 2025, when he accepted the Master's call. Matthew 25:23, in the New Living Translation of the Bible, reads, "The Master said, "Well done my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let us celebrate together."  We've all seen a sample of the earthly art James created for our joy. A new day has come! Let us use our spiritual creativity in imagining the beautiful heavenly art that James is creating now!  Amen.