Christina Espinosa remembers Maurice Dawson as a beloved member of HDI’s community.
“Maurice was one of the few people at HDI as a member of our tech team that was able to connect with people across the institute…that was inherently special to be able to be someone got to connect with so many people but was also always very present and willing to help problem solve” Espinosa, the Community Education Division Director, said. “He had his own quirky style of humor. He was amazing with sending memes. He would always send back a meme on chat or in Teams.”
His friends and colleagues deeply appreciated how eager he was to help people with any of their tech-related problems and how quick he was with a joke in team meetings. Many member’s of HDI’s team were devastated when he passed away last year. But since then, HDI has made multiple efforts to honor his memory.
As one of these efforts, they’ve created space for community and education at their new location in Lexington’s Huguenard building.
There are two spaces at Huguenard that were dedicated to Dawson’s memory during its Feb. 16 ribbon cutting – the training room and the meeting room, as he was a common fixture in both places at HDI’s previous Coldstream offices. Some members of Dawson’s family were also there in attendance. His mother said a few words. She was just really grateful that we got to know him and were able to honor him in that place, too,” Espinosa said.
Already the training room is seeing use. “Any project that needs to reserve a space that can house twenty to potentially forty people can reserve it for trainings for larger project meetings,” Espinosa said. “It’s also being currently used as a spot to gather for lunch, as a as an opportunity to connect with other HDI staff.”
In addition, Dawson’s art and photographs of the Coldstream Farm decorate these spaces.
In addition to these dedications, HDI is also honoring Dawson through its Maurice Dawson, Jr. Technology Training Initiative.