Dixie Woodard

It is with great deep, deep sorrow and loss that I must write to let you know that we lost our mother, aunt, grandmother and friend to all who were lucky enough to know Dixie.

How do you put down in a few sentences what a loss this is… "you don't."

Mom was born in a little cabin on Whitefish Lake in 1933. When she was young her family moved around a lot, Spokane, Portland, Seattle and such. Eventually when my dad got out of the Navy after World War II he ended up in the Swan and my mom's family was up there and they met, got married, started raising a family in Condon, "The Swan" about 1950 I guess. Life was tough up there for them but mom did her best with three little ones. Finally we moved to Missoula in 1965. Dad went to work for the county. Mom went to work for St. Patrick Hospital as a glove girl and we kids went to Willard School. She became a scrub nurse and eventually went to work with the gang – "you know who you are" – in Central Processing. She loved you all so much.

Mom retired from St. Patrick Hospital and did 18 months of chemo and defeated Stage 3 ovarian cancer – "wow." So I got her a little Cocker Spaniel doggy named Abe in 2000 and boy was he the love of her life. And she was the love of his. He would lay there and watch her plant flowers all day. She loved to plant flowers and feed the little animals that moved in with us, squirrels to be exact! And mom was the oldest of her siblings and the last one left. Her husband Bruce, our father, died in 1985 and then her daughter Carla in 2009. Her little doggy Abe left us this past Christmas at age 14. Mom really took care of him as well as me for sure. But after Abe died she lost that little spring in her step. It took a lot out of her. Sense of humor, fairness and willing to give you a second chance was mom. She did not know how to not be a friend or most important a mother to us and others! She will never be forgotten.

Services for Dixie "Mom" will be held a little later, but we will have them! They may be held in Kalispell, but probably Missoula.

Mom Dixie is survived by her two sons; nieces; nephews and grandkids from Kentucky to Oregon and every where in between. Too many names to mention. "sorry this is bout Mom today."

How do you put down in words how much she was loved, how much I (we) loved her. Once again, you don't, you just live your life by her example. That's how you honor Mom Dixie. Mom died right where she wanted to be at St. Patrick Hospital with her family and staff by her side. She would have said I'll take a rain check on this but it was her time and she would be okay with that. It was time for her to be in heaven with her mom, dad, brothers, sisters, daughter and that crazy little doggy Abe. We will see you again, Mother. Mom, we love you and thank you so much for being who you were.

Finally we would like to thank all the staff, the doctors, nurses and such who gave Mom every fighting chance she could have. And to all who have been helping me on the outside of the hospital, thank you too. It is so sad but Mom would want us to live life, but it will be hard.


Read Dixie Woodard's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.