Frank James Dolson, known as the "Rock" taught at Amityville High School

Frank James Dolson, a former teacher and coach at Amityville High School and later at the Naval Academy Prep School in Newport, Rhode Island, died January 24, 2000 at his home in Stonington, Lord’s Point, Connecticut.

Mr. Dolson was a graduate of Ithaca College and received a degree in physical education. He earned his master’s degree from Columbia University.

In 1943, he received a commission as ensign in the Naval Reserve and went on active duty for three and a half years. In March, 1945, he was assigned to the USS Hamblen as an assistant boat group commander. In Saipan, Japan, his squadron was prepared to invade when the atomic bomb was dropped.

Following the War, he came to Amityville where he taught and coached and earned the nickname "Rock."

"He used to take the students through an exercise regimen and was notorious for making them rock on their stomachs," said Amityville resident and a former student of Mr. Dolson’s, James Caples. "He was well liked by all the students."

Dolson coached with Amityville resident Lou Howard who described him as a fine man; a good teacher and coach. He returned to Amityville for a reunion this past summer.

While serving as a teacher and coach in Amityville, Mr. Dolson was called back into active duty by the Navy and served as history instructor and football coach at the Naval Academy in Rhode Island and Bainbridge, Maryland. Upon release in 1952, he achieved the rank of lieutenant commander.

In 1954, Mr. Dolson and his family moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he changed careers and became involved in school fund raising plans, retiring from Readers’ Digest Quality School Plan in 1976. During his years in Stockbridge, he became acquainted with the great American painter Norman Rockwell and modeled for the artist’s 1959 Saturday Evening Post cover, The Family Tree. Mr. Dolson enjoyed fishing, boating, hunting and golf. He moved to Lords Point in 1982 and he and his wife Violet Louise became volunteers at Mystic Seaport and Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center. Mr. Dolson was a member of the Retired Officers Association, Connecticut Chapter. The couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with a cruise to Hawaii recently.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Dolson is survived by his two daughters, Sherry Dolson Long of Moulton, Ala., and Melanie Dolson Wagner of Sherburne, Mass; a son Frank James Dolson III of Stockbridge, Mass, seven grandchildren, two great grandchildren and a sister Phyllis Colegrove of Middletown, New York.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association, P.O. Box 100, Wallingford, Ct., 06492. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of the Mystic Funeral Home, Route 1, Mystic, Connecticut.