Dixie June Martin

During the Great Depression and near the small Texas Panhandle town of McLean, Dixie June was born to Edith and John Wardlaw on November 29, 1936.

Dixie had one younger brother, John, who now lives in Georgetown, Texas and three older siblings, Anita, Kenneth, and Joyce, who are deceased.

At age 19 and after the death of her infirmed mother Edith May, Dixie moved to Amarillo, Texas where she worked for the local telephone company and Gray’s Photography studio.

In 1959, while bowling in an arcade, Dixie met the love of her life, Roy Martin, and soon they were married. Early in their marriage Dixie lived with her in-laws Edward “Buddy” and Margaret Martin as Roy, a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, was on active duty. In 1960, she gave birth to their first son Rex and years later, their second son Ryan in 1969.

Being quite gregarious, Dixie found a successful career selling Avon. This turned out to be an excellent way to help support the family while she and Roy were raising two boys. They continued to live in Amarillo where she continued her career and Roy taught at West Texas State University.

In 1986, they moved to San Antonio for Roy’s new role as Full Professor at Texas State University as Dixie reestablished another successful career with Avon while winning many corporate awards. Outside of work and raising kids, Dixie was involved in women’s groups, served as an Ambassador for their HOA, Green Springs Valley, and enjoyed many cultural activities and festivals in the city with Roy on the weekends.

Throughout their lives together, Dixie and Roy enjoyed spending as much time as possible in Red River, New Mexico. They camped in tents and trailers until 1969 when they partnered with Roy’s parents to build a cabin in a beautiful mountain meadow in the upper valley. Together, Roy and Dixie spent many long and peaceful summers living in that meadow. It is where they shared many of the best times of their golden years with friends and family.

As the years rolled by, both Roy and Dixie retired. Soon, it became clear that San Antonio was too far from family and that cabin in the meadow. So, in 2016, they sold their home in San Antonio and moved to Denver to be closer to their cabin and family.

Roy and Dixie were inseparable until the early morning of Saturday, May 30 when Roy went to the hospital with a mild pneumonia while Dixie, who moved under hospice care only four days earlier, did not. On the first night of Roy’s hospitalization, Hospice notified the family that Dixie was transitioning. Rex stayed the night with her where she passed peacefully in her sleep early in the morning of Sunday May 31.

Dixie is survived by her husband, Roy, two sons Rex and Ryan, and their spouses, Janet and Kelly, plus Dixie’s brother John, who lives with his spouse, Virginia.

There will be no immediate services, but we do expect to have an informal celebration of Life this summer in Red River, New Mexico. We hope those of you who have always wished Dixie and Roy well can attend.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a generous donation to the Alzheimer’s Association. P.O. Box 96011, Washington, DC 20090-6011.

Or to Dixie’s donation link:

https://act.alz.org/site/TR;jsessionid=00000000.app20018b?team_id=1071259&fr_id=19959&pg=team&NONCE_TOKEN=DA2629C15E43CBBB49B1E2995FAC8A54