Marshall County loses great servant
District 2 supervisor Eddie Dixon earned his wings overnight Tuesday, following injuries from a school bus wreck last week.
He spent his last days and hours at the Regional One Health Center in Memphis, Tenn., after his school bus was involved in a wreck Thursday Sept. 29 while dropping off children after school.
Driving the school bus was what he enjoyed and was a part of his daily routine while teaching agriculture and shop trades at H.W. Byers High School.
At 77, Dixon was the oldest serving supervisor, making his debut in 2000 along with his friend District 3 supervisor Keith Taylor.
“He was just always trying to help people, he didn’t have an agenda,” Taylor said. “We went into office together. Every time we discussed something with industry, Eddie and I would get out and ride. He had a good vision for the future.
“God couldn’t have put anybody else there like Eddie. He taught me a lot of things by his actions.” Dixon was a person who cared. He called Taylor every day when Taylor’s baby girl was in the hospital for open heart surgery.
“He touched a lot of lives,” Taylor said, adding when the two were running for office the first time, Dixon would often say, “One thing they don’t know is we are good people.”
“Marshall County lost a good one. He has a strong family that will carry his legacy on,” Taylor said.
Sheriff Kenny Dickerson, who came to office in 1996, praised Dixon for his advocacy for education, public safety and law enforcement.
“Eddie’s been an icon to work with as far as county government,” Dickerson said. “He was compassionate, yet firm when he needed to be. He loved H.W. Byers. He’s going to be missed.”
Dixon was a man of his word, always voting his conscience in the boardroom, the sheriff said.
District 1 supervisor and board president Charles Terry said Dixon will be hard to be replaced.
“He was level headed and laid back in the way he served on the board,” Terry said. “It’s going to be hard to replace his mild manner on the board. He was a good colleague to have.”
Terry said he and Dixon traveled together to meetings all over the state.
“He is known from one end of the state to the other,” he said. “The board is losing a good supervisor, colleague and good person.”
Retired county administrator and road manager, Larry Hall said Dixon “was the glue that held it all together.”
He kept everything balanced and in good taste, Hall said, describing Dixon as honest, dedicated to doing the right thing and a man of many friends.
“He wasn’t in it (office) for himself, he was in it for the whole county, a dedicated public servant,” Hall said.
Dixon attended St. Joseph Catholic Church in Holly Springs.
He graduated from Alcorn State University.
A father of four children with his wife, Maxine, he was proud to teach several generations of school children.
Dixon served as president and vice-president of the Marshall County Board of Supervisors. He served as president of the Mississippi Association of Supervisors and on that board’s legislative committee.
He also served as director on the board of Northeast Mississippi Planning and Development District which supported funds for building and maintaining the county’s infrastructure.
Dixon was dedicated to improving the quality of life for current and future generations by helping the county develop its economy that will provide jobs for many decades to come in its industrial parks.
He was a driving force in creating the Marshall County Workforce Training Center to train local citizens for good jobs in the industrial sector. His goal was to provide great opportunities for people to live, work and raise their children in Marshall County.
He worked for the school district forty years.
We Are the World
Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie
“There comes a time
When we heed a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
Oh, and it’s time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all
We can’t go on
Pretending day-by-day
That someone, somewhere soon make a change
We’re all a part of God's great big family
And the truth, you know, love is all we need
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day, just you and me.”