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 aKer 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 MarRn, and soon

they were married. Roy, a First Lieutenant in the US Army, was on acRve duty when Rex

was born, so unRl Roy could get home, Dixie stayed with her new in-laws, Edward

“Buddy” MarRn and Margaret MarRn. In 1969 Dixie and Roy’s second son, Ryan was

born.

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.

Her eldest, Rex, graduated from Amarillo High School in 1978. In 1986 Dixie, Roy, and

Ryan moved to San Antonio where Ryan graduated from MacArthur High School and

Roy became a Full Professor at Texas State University.

While in San Antonio, Dixie conRnued with Avon, and she won many corporate awards

for it. She also enjoyed serving as an Ambassador for their HOA, Green Springs Valley.

Throughout their lives together, Dixie and Roy enjoyed spending as much Rme as

possible in Red River, New Mexico. They camped in tents and trailers unRl 1969 when

they partnered with Roy’s parents to build a cabin in a beauRful mountain meadow.

Together, Roy and Dixie spent many long and peaceful summers living in that meadow.

It is where they shared many of the best Rmes of their golden years with friends and

family.

As the years rolled by, both Roy and Dixie reRred. Soon, it became clear that San

Antonio was too far from family and that cabin in the meadow. So, in 2016, Ryan

helped them sell their home in San Antonio and move to Denver where he could assist

with the day-to-day mabers of their growing old together.

Roy and Dixie were inseparable until the early morning of Saturday, May 30 when Roy

went to the hospital with a mild pneumonia. He soon recovered, but Dixie, placed

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. That night with

Roy in the hospital and Rex in the room with her, Dixie was asleep as she ended a long-fought battle 

with respiratory illness and more recently, Alzheimer’s. She passed

peacefully into the 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, respectively. The final survivor is 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.

Alzheimer's Association , P.O. Box 96011, Washington, DC 20090-6011.

Or

https://act.alz.org/site/TR?team_id=1071259&fr_id=19959&pg=team

Your thoughts and prayers for Roy and Dixie are greatly appreciated.