Belle Jaunice Dixon “Dixie” Collier, 75, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt went to be with her Lord and Savior on Thursday, October 7, 2010 at her residence in Silsbee, surrounded by her loving family after a courageous one-year struggle with cancer. Born May 2, 1935, in Worth County, Georgia, she was the third child of Robert Onslow Dixon and Nina Pauline Brown Dixon. The family moved to Nederland in 1940, where she attended school. After graduating from Lamar Tech (now Lamar University), in 1956, she began her teaching career in the Hamshire School District and then in Evadale, where she set up the program for special education. While teaching in Evadale, she received her Masters degree from Lamar, after which she began her most rewarding years in education as Coordinator for Students with Disabilities at Lamar.
While attending Lamar as an undergraduate, she met the love of her life, Willard A. “Bud” Collier, a Navy veteran who was attending college under the GI Bill. They were married on June 1, 1958, in Nederland. She taught in the Hamshire School District while Bud continued his studies toward a civil engineering degree at Lamar. He began his career with the Texas Highway Department and they lived in Jasper for a time. Then they moved back to Silsbee, where they reared their two precious daughters, Carol and Shannon. After retiring, Bud and Dixie realized their dream of building a beautiful log home on Toledo Bend where they were members of the First United Methodist Church of Burkeville. They enjoyed fishing and canoeing and living a quiet country life for several years, commuting to Beaumont to participate in several bowling leagues. After returning to Silsbee in 2004, they again became active in the First United Methodist Church and the Evangelism Visitation Committee. Dixie also worked with Children’s Faith Weaver Friends and Scripture Memory Verse which was very rewarding. One of her most treasured possessions is a Schofield Bible which she was awarded after completing a Bible verse study course as a senior in high school.
Dixie was a proud descendant of several early Virginia, Carolina and Georgia families and a member of Colonel George Moffett Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, where she served as Chairman of the Constitution Committee and Project Patriot before she became ill. She was a member of First United Methodist Church of Silsbee and Kappa Delta Sorority.
Dixie is survived by her loving husband of fifty-two years, Willard A. “Bud” Collier; daughters, Carol Lynne Collier of Silsbee and Shannon Collier Quinn and her husband Carl of Nederland; grandson, John Robert “Robby” Wallace, Jr. of Ignacio, Colorado; granddaughters, Kelsey delValle and Katie Quinn of Nederland; sister, Polly Dixon and her husband Dr. Howard Haworth of Houston; brother, Ray Dixon and his wife Donna of Houston; nephew, Charles Robert “Bobby” Dixon, II and his wife Tina of Silsbee; nieces, Susan York of Houston, Cathy Nichols of Los Angeles, Donnella Dixon Allen and her husband Billy of Lumberton, Carolyn Dasher and her husband Gregg of Houston, and Margaret Haworth Gable and her husband Mark of Nassau Bay; several grandnieces and grandnephews; aunts, Myra Stringfellow of Georgia and Christine Martin of Fort Worth; cousins; and a host of friends. She will be dearly missed by all whose lives she so lovingly touched. She is preceded in death by her parents; older brother Charles Robert Dixon; and nephew, John Edward Schmidt, Jr.
The family would like to particularly express our gratitude to Donna Long for her help and loving care of Dixie for the past year. We wish also to thank Texas Home Health and Texas Home Health Hospice, especially Rachel and Shelly, for their care during Dixie’s final days.
Funeral service will be 10:00 a.m. Monday, October 11, 2010, at First United Methodist Church, 670 North Fifth Street, Silsbee under the direction of Broussard’s, 490 Cemetery Road, Silsbee with Revs. Dan C. Darby, Jr., Nancy Ratchford, and Barbara Strauss officiating, with burial to follow at Cunningham Cemetery, Hwy 92 North, Silsbee. A gathering of family and friends will be Sunday, October 10, 2010, 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at Broussard’s.
In lieu of other remembrances, the family has requested contributions be made in Dixie’s memory to First United Methodist Church, Silsbee.
