Shirley Dixon

Hastings resident Shirley May Dixon, 87, was called home to heaven on June 27, 2021, at Mary Lanning Healthcare, Hastings, NE.

Services will be 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 2, at Grace United Methodist Church in Hastings with Rev. Stefanie Hayes and Pastor Kathy Uldrich officiating. Burial will be held at Parkview Cemetery in Hastings. Visitation will be 1-7 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home with family present 5-7 and 1 hour prior at the church. Memorials may be given to the family for a memorial to be established at a later date.

She was born to the late Howard and Nettie May in Hastings, NE, on February 8, 1934.  She attended Hastings Public Schools and graduated from Hastings High School in 1952. She always said she was “born to be a homemaker.” From a young age, she loved to cook, clean, sew, bake, make candy and do all kinds of crafts. She worked in retail as a professional gift wrapper. She also owned her own beauty salon. But most of all, she loved being a stay-at-home mom.

She married her childhood sweetheart, William Dixon, on January 26, 1952, right before her high school graduation and just before he was shipped overseas with the Army. Together, they had three children: Diane Lynn Cassell of Los Lunas, NM, William Dean Dixon, Jr., deceased, and Thomas Eugene Dixon, deceased.

Shirley was involved in many community activities as well as being a member of Grace United Methodist Church. She was a Girl Scout Leader, 4-H Leader, Home Extension Leader, YWCA member, a lifetime member of Morton and Hawthorne School PTAs, and was a Sunday School teacher.

Shirley always said you can tell a Christian by the way they live, and we know she tried to do just that! She is ready to walk on the streets of gold with her Lord and Savior and meet all of her loved ones who went before her. She would tell you that life without God is like a pencil not sharpened, there is no point. She tried to live in a way that would serve God.

Her children always told her that on her tombstone, they were going to inscribe, “A place for everything, and everything in its place!” She believes that taught them to be clean, neat, and kind.

Shirley was preceded in death by her parents; sons, William Dean Dixon Jr. and Thomas Eugene Dixon; two sisters, Hazel Oellerich and Ruthie Stroud; and one brother, Earl May.

SURVIVORS:
Husband:
William Dixon – Hastings, NE
Daughter:
Diane Lynn Cassell - Los Lunas, NM
Grandchildren & Spouses:
Elizabeth & Scott Richardson - Los Lunas, NM
David & Claire Cassell - Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Christian Dixon - Beatrice, NE
Great-Granddaughter:
Abigail Diane Richardson - Los Lunas, NM
Sisters:
Faye Davis - LaPlata, MD
Bernice Keyte - Omaha, NE
Phyllis Micketey - Bonney Lake, WA
Many friends, cousins, nieces, and nephews