Helen Dixon Dixie Meadows Dexters 1934-2019

[jamshundred]

Helen L. Dixon, 84, passed away quietly Thursday evening, in her farm home in Viewtown, Virginia. Born 1934 in Belleville, Illinois, Mrs. Dixon was a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. City born, Mrs. Dixon for years taught kindergarten. In 1968 she and her late husband, John Dixon, bought and began clearing, improving, and expanding their first farm in Rappahannock County. There Mrs. Dixon, always an animal lover, was drawn to the unusual and rare, exotic animals. A self-taught farmer, Mrs. Dixon soon filled her farm with cattle and exotic animals that included zebras, camels, endangered African antelope, dall sheep, and water buffalo, among others. She also raised a variety of donkeys, emu, ostriches, and peacocks, and other fowl. Mrs. Dixon was well known as a cattle breeder. Amongst her contributions to Virginia's agriculture was the import of the first herd of Simmental cattle directly from Ireland to her Virginia farm in the 1980s. She was the first in Virginia to use embryo transplant and artificial insemination in her breeding program. Mrs. Dixon also bred Brahman and Zebu cattle. She later turned to rare breed Legacy Dexter Cattle and Scottish Highland Cattle. By the 1990s Mrs. Dixon became an expert in both exotic and domestic farm animal husbandry, for which she was well known and respected. Since 2006, Mrs. Dixon has been active in the preservation of the rare Heck Tarpan Horses originally imported to the USA in 1959. At the time of her death she owned the only herd of Heck Tarpan Horses in the United States. Mrs. Dixon is survived by her eldest son, Dr. Gregory K. Dixon OD, an optometrist in Culpeper, as well as three other adult children, five grandchildren, two great grandchildren, and her loyal service dog, May. A funeral service will be held on Wednesday, February 13, 2019 at 2 p.m. at Found and Sons Funeral Chapel, 850 Sperryville Pike, Culpeper, VA . The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service. An online guestbook and tribute wall are available at www.foundandsons.com Found and Sons Funeral Chapel of Culpeper is serving the family.

[genebo]

It's sad to lose such an active proponent of Dexter cattle. She will be missed.

[jamshundred]

Helen loved that little dog.  It was my first conscious awareness actually of the abuse of the "service animal" privileges.

I would go to her farm and help with running the cattle through the chute, tagging, and pulling hair samples, and we would have lunch off the farm, usually at a local country store with a section for antiques and collectibles and a small deli with delicious sandwiches.    One day we decided to go to the Chinese buffet in Warrenton, and when we arrived, I watched in total amazement as she carried the little dog into the restaurant, placed her on the seat, and not an eyebrow was raised by the restaurant personnel.  ( I was the only one with raised eyebrows and bug eyes for I fully expected a scene when we entered the door and the dog being ordered OUT!).   So, she explained to me the legal rights of those who have "service dogs".   I had, prior to that occasion, believed service dogs were those that led the blind and disabled.

Judy

[cddexter]

Hi Jood, many thanks for the short memorial.  I'm so glad she had you to help.  Great lady.

I didn't realize you were that close to Warrenton.  Check out Dalgliesh Gilpin Paxton Architects, 'farm estates' and look at the most recent reno:  Kinloch.  Currently owned by the Currier family (Currier and Ives), but prior to that part of the Turner family fortunes since the 1700's, although I was told it started out as 18,000 acres (now down to just under 2,000).  Dad's birth certificate shows he was born there.  If I ever get back again, would I be welcome to visit you, too?

cheers, c.

[jamshundred]

Carol,

I'm "across the river" a bit.  The Potomac, famous for the much told tale of George Washington tossing a coin across it's width.   It probably takes me a little over an hour to get to Warrenton.   The entire Washington DC area is now just one HUGE metropolis, with small town after small town being developed and one blending into another.  The infrastructure, especially the highways are not keeping up with the population.  Rush hour everywhere is one big nightmare, but the Capital beltway, 66 west, 270 and 95 north are parking lots for a number of hours each day.  I should have gone "home" 20 years ago.

Warrenton is what used to be called" horse country".  Beautiful farms with miles and miles of board fencing.   The state of Virginia itself is just a gorgeous state and it's a damn shame development is destroying so much of it's natural beauty.
TOO MUCH immigration.  Whether it is legal or illegal.

I am thinking of making the transition south.  If I am going to do so, I figure I have to start pretty soon or stop waddling around with one foot here and one there, but where-ever you find me, you can expect a good lunch!

I am going to look up that farm!

Judy