Dixie Lynn Thomas Hines

Dixie Lynn Thomas Hines slipped away from us on December 30th, 2025, at St. Dominic’s Hospital in Jackson, in the presence of her family and caretakers. She was seventy-eight, still full of spark, having spent the day before sipping her beloved Starbucks Frappuccino while out shopping with Leo, the same Leo who, back when they were kids, used to toss the daily newspaper onto the porches of their neighborhood from his motor scooter. She went gently, the way she lived, leaving behind a Mississippi made kinder and brighter by the lives she touched.

Born February 25, 1947, in Jackson, to Eugene Talbert Thomas and Lola Gladys Cox Thomas, Dixie grew up first on Alta Vista Boulevard near downtown Jackson, in a house where her backyard doubled as a makeshift performing arts theater. She and the neighborhood children put on plays under the pecan trees, Dixie invariably the instigator, the star, and the one who wrangled the audiences, often just neighborhood pets or those who hadn’t learned to dodge the offer. She played pranks on her housekeeper Lexi, calling down to her from the upper branches of her favorite climbing tree, “Lexi, this is your conscience speaking,” Lexi, no doubt playing along, pretending to be mystified. She studied piano formally, could sight-read just about anything you put in front of her, but her real gift was playing by ear, picking out melodies that moved her. Music and performance called to her early: piano and flute, majorettes and marching bands, the thrill of a crowd.

When her family moved to Douglas Drive in northeast Jackson, Dixie joined the Murrah Misses drill team, performing at football games and other events. Leo lived around the corner, and they began dating while at Murrah together. Ole Miss welcomed her next, and she threw herself into it with the same joy she brought to everything. She pledged Phi Mu, represented her sisters on Panhellenic Council, declared a major in Elementary Education, led the Student Education Association, and danced with the University Dancers. She was passionate about Ole Miss football, but never let it get in the way of good manners. State fans in her presence always felt welcome, too.

With her B.A. of Elementary Education secured, Dixie and Leo married on October 25, 1969, beginning a partnership that would last more than fifty-six years. Theirs was a marriage built on a shared sense of humor, quiet faith, and the comfortable certainty of two people who simply belonged together.

For thirty-five years Dixie taught children, preschool up to fifth grade, across Biloxi public schools, Woodland Hills Baptist Academy, Lakeside Presbyterian Preschool, and longest in Rankin County public schools in Brandon. While teaching full-time in Brandon she earned a master’s in reading from Mississippi College, attained National Board Certification, and was named Jackson Metro Outstanding Teacher, an honor that sent her to a fancy reception where she shook the governor’s hand and then waved off the fuss with a modest, “Well, they were just being nice.” She retired in 2012 but kept on working, consulting in special education programs. Dixie could hardly make it through the grocery store without someone calling out “Mrs. Hines!” A former student, a parent, a colleague, all proof that her reach was wide and her touch lasting.

An active member of Woodland Hills Baptist Church in Fondren for decades, she taught Sunday school and led the GAs, helping little girls dream of missions and service. Later she found a home at Grace Bible Church in Ridgeland, where she loved digging deep into scripture with her small-group Bible study friends.

As a mother and grandmother, Dixie was an exuberant memory maker. She was always ready to host a party, though she happily left the cooking to others when possible. Her true love was decorations, the more elaborate the better. Weeks ahead you’d hear about the themed place settings, the polished silver, the perfect centerpiece, the napkin rings. Holidays were her canvas, Christmas most of all. As the years passed her trees grew downright baroque, layers of tinsel, sparkling protrusions, ornaments collected over decades, until the family teased that the tree had become a glittering portrait of her exuberant psyche. She pushed education at home with the same tireless energy she brought to school: hours at the kitchen table making flashcards, drilling vocabulary, cheering every small victory. She kept the World Book Encyclopedia proudly displayed on a shelf in the living room and had a full library of children’s books amassed from years of school book fairs. When daughter Catherine joined Phi Mu at Delta State, Dixie beamed. When son Tom needed an apartment in New York City on short notice, she cut short her Christmas break, flew into a historic blizzard, and trudged through three feet of snow to help him find a place. Her grandchildren Luke and Jack grew up surrounded by stories and books, well-read long before they reached school age, because Dixie believed a child with a book in hand was a child with the world at their feet.

Dixie is survived by Leo Hines, their children, Catherine Hines Gordon and her husband Brett, Tom Hines and his wife Michelle, her grandchildren, Luke and Jack Hines, and her sister Nancy Thomas Aldridge.

A memorial service will be held at Grace Bible Church in Ridgeland on January 16, 2026, at 2:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, consider a gift to a church missions fund, a children’s literacy program, or simply do as Dixie would: notice a child who needs encouragement and read them a book.

Dixie passed through our lives trailing wonder, kindness, and just the right amount of glitter. Every classroom, church pew, and grocery aisle she brightened is a little warmer now. One of her favorite Bible verses was Psalm 30:5, “...weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” She loved so many hymns, but if pressed to name a favorite, for this occasion she might say, “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling.”