Dixie June Bogusky

Friday, May 2, 2014, Dixie Bogusky passed on to whatever awaits the best of us. She will be remembered as a wonderful artist and probably one of the world's all-time greatest listeners. As a young mother, her house was always the place where the kids hung out, and she wound up being a surrogate mom to more than a few kids who needed a good listener. It was art therapy every day, before anybody knew what art therapy was. The clay and the pens and pencils were ever present on the kitchen table, and we all made things and she listened. You eventually got the feeling that with art and some mayonnaise sandwiches, there was no problem too big for that kitchen table and Dixie. Over time, the art supplies were replaced by remote control airplanes and the remote controlled airplanes were replaced by bike parts and the bike parts were replaced by motorcycle engines. But the listening never changed. Or the laughs. Her laugh was famous. It sounded like joy wrapped in surprised with just a touch of embarrassment for finding it all so funny. When she wasn't home listening and laughing with friends over a cup of coffee or a can of beer (Oh, she loved her Pabst Blue Ribbon like only an Okie chick could and way, way before hipsters made it cool), Dixie and Bill did everything and went everywhere together. They rode motorcycles, skied the rockies, windsurfed and traveled all over the world. She saw everything from the biggest ball of twine to the great pyramids, even leading an expedition to Central America in the '70's where she made some of the first recordings of newly discovered Mayan temples. Somewhere she also found the time to work as an art director for several magazines and to teach her son the trade that would become his career. She was more than a little surprised and delighted by the success of her son, Alex Bogusky, loved her daughter-in-law Ana dearly, but was most proud of her grandchildren, Zeke and Nadia. She was happy to know that they were such fine people and regretted not being able to see them grow up just a little bit more. When her battle with cancer started it was hard to get her to talk about it. She would rather listen to what was going on with everybody else and she was so incredibly tough. She never bent to the cancer. Her attitude was always like, cancer, you might kill me but you're not going to ruin my day. In the final months, friends and family came from all over the country to visit and let her know how important she was to their lives. It was her turn to listen. She put up with it and joked, "I feel like I'm attending my own funeral" but went on to say, "It's actually not bad." She passed exactly how she wanted to, at home surrounded by her art and books and in the arms of the love of her life and husband of 50+ years, Bill. She lives on in our hearts and we know if we need somebody to talk to, she's still listening. In lieu of flowers the family asks that you give to any charity you care about. Chances are Dixie already had. Or as her husband Bill would say, "she was a sucker for every cause and non-profit out there."