When did Dawson Palmer die?

He was my next door neighbor. I mowed his lawn every week, in Playa del Rey. In 1972, age 12, I showed up at his front door to let him know I was going to mow his lawn. His wife answered the door and I asked if Dawson was home.

She said, "I guess you haven't heard. He died last night in a car accident on the way home from work." Dawson was a bar tender, in addition to being an actor. After work, heading home in his Porsche, it is presumed he did not see an unlit, or poorly lit, barricade set up in front of some heavy road equipment and he plowed into a large land mover, as I recall.

I was told he was killed instantly. I only learned today that he was 36. That sounds so young, as I am now 64.

His wife was heartbroken. Sad and glum every time I saw her, which was not much. She eventually moved out, un-noticed, and I never saw her again.