Dixie Waddle loved to sit in her garden to watch what God was doing and to listen to what He was saying. Today she is in His Garden listening and watching, face to face, to her Lord Jesus Christ. Dixie went to her true home on September 8, 2007. Her time here taught us to love supremely, to serve joyfully, and to persevere with all courage.

Dixie, born the tenth of twelve children to Fred and Dollie Dodd on March 26, 1947 in Woodward, Oklahoma, shared with us all her faith in the Resurrection of Christ and her knowledge that she will not die, but live in Christ. She wanted us to remember Jesus' words in John 6:63, "The Spirit alone gives life; the flesh is of no avail."

Dixie is remembered for her love of people, but especially children. She led a discussion and Bible study at the Juvenile Detention Center, which she lovingly called "the fishing hole", for the past several years. She remembered and continued to pray for each child by name even when their stay at the fishing hole was short. It was her greatest desire for these youth to find the wholeness she had found in Christ and His Word, from whom she became "acutely aware of God's unlimited power and His love of man."

Many in the community knew Dixie for her Annual Children's Christmas Tea, Gingerbread House Contest, adult and children's etiquette classes, her gardening column in the local paper, her radio program, her fun community projects, public speaking, and her spontaneous acts of kindness. Her church family and Sunday school class, whom she loved, knew her as a true follower of Christ.

You may also have seen her in the Daily Oklahoman more than a few times being featured for her landscape business, or her design and construction of furniture, or needlepoint. She was also featured in an issue of Oklahoma Home & Lifestyle magazine. She was a member of the screen actor's guild due to a small role on Unsolved Mysteries. She enjoyed art and design in all forms and loved a challenge in her projects. The most important projects to her were the "seeds" she planted in other people's lives. She often said, "I plant, but only God makes the seed grow." We pray all the seeds of love and kindness she planted in this community will continue to grow and bloom.

Dixie's husband, children, and grandchildren remember her in her personal library, reading and studying the Bible, the classics, and history. She loved to learn from and listen to great minds. Her grandchildren will remember that she always had time to play, to listen, to teach, to appreciate the beauty in life. Her daughters will always be thankful that she gladly set aside her own childhood for theirs. She showed her family what the Proverbs 31 woman really looks like. Dixie's beloved mother, her husband, and children and grandchildren will greatly miss her physical presence but will continue to mature from the life lessons she taught, until that day we all will meet again in Christ.

Dixie was preceded in death by her father, Fred, her brothers, Clyde and Leon. She is survived by her husband, Harrel, her mother, Dollie, her daughters Tina Sorrells and husband Terry, Sherri Swank and husband Mark, grandchildren Ashley, Christine, and Garrett Swank. She is also survived by Herbert and Jo Ann Waddle, and Juanita Roots.