Dixie Ann Oaks

Dixie Ann Liggett was born to Mr. and Mrs. L. D. Liggett, September 10, 1937 at the Florence Nightingale Hospital in Dallas. The Liggett's lived in Irving and Dixie was the oldest of four children with a younger sister Sona and two younger brothers, Richard and Joe. In her youth she was enamored with playing the piano and took lessons for a number of years. She also sang in the school choir and while attending Irving High School sang in their production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado - playing one of the three little maids. She also won first place in a vocal competition singing the song Baubles, Bangles and Beads from the musical Kismet. She graduated from Irving High School in the spring of 1956. She then attended North Texas State College majoring in music and fashion design and while there sang in the College's choir called the Grand Chorus. She was also a member of the Kappa Delta sorority. Dixie met Darrell Oaks on a blind date in July of 1959. After dating for several months their relationship became serious and they were engaged in December of the same year. Subsequently they were married on June 17, 1960 and lived in Irving, initially in an apartment and then bought a house in the spring of 1962. Both enjoyed traveling and they visited family in California several times including an uncle who was a Church of Christ preacher. Their first son, Brett, was born to them in August of 1963. They continued living in Irving until Darrell, who worked for Braniff Airlines, was transferred to Corpus Christi, Texas in the fall of 1964. They purchased a home soon after moving which they owned until 2009. While in Corpus Christi their second son, Scott, was born in July of 1966. They became members of the Windsor Park Church of Christ which moved locations and was renamed the Kings Crossing Church of Christ. As their sons got older, Dixie decided she wanted to finish her college education and attend what was then called Texas A&I University (now part of the Texas A&M system) in Kingsville, Texas where she graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. Besides being a homemaker, Dixie was a substitute teacher and subsequently an english grader for Ray High School. She retired from this in 2004 to enjoy leisure time, traveling with Darrell, visiting old friends, and especially trips to visit their children and grandchildren in Phoenix. Dixie and Darrell moved back to the Dallas area to be around family in the summer of 2009. In 2010 they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and traveled to Yellowstone and Jackson, Wyoming with their son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. In more recent years Dixie began showing signs of Dementia which later turned into Alzheimer's. Despite this, she was able to continue a happy life. On October 17 at 2:00 in the morning, she fell and broke her left hip which sent her to Charlton Methodist hospital where she had surgery and was in intensive care for three days. A few days later she was moved to Harbor Hospice, located within the hospital, and was there for three weeks until she passed on November 11 in the afternoon surrounded by family. Dixie and Darrell were married 57 years, 4 months and 24 days.