Berlie Dixon

1930 - 2019

Berlie Ray Dixon CHARLOTTE - Berlie Ray Dixon passed away February 9, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Berlie was a beautiful soul, loved deeply by many. Born in Badin, North Carolina on April 5th 1930 and reared in New Bern, North Carolina, she graduated from West Street High School in 1948 and from what is now North Carolina Central University in 1952. During this period she excelled academically and showed great talent in the dramatic arts. Upon graduation, as a Rockefeller Scholar, she moved to Cleveland, Ohio to study theater at Western Reserve University. As a part of her studies, Berlie was active as a performer, director and educator at the renowned Karamu House where she was instrumental in developing their Children's Theater. In 1954 she married her college sweetheart Ivan Nathaniel Dixon and he joined her at Karamu. In 1955 she graduated as one of the first African Americans to receive a Master of Fine Arts Degree from Western Reserve. Later, after moving to New York City, she continued her work with youth, producing shows that united at-risk teens from various boroughs. In Los Angeles, while building a family, she managed to remain active in the theater as an actor and as a director of various children's theater groups and large scale variety shows. During the late 1980s she returned to her work with at-risk youth, helping educate and employ hundreds of young people as a recruiter for L.A. Job Corps. Mrs. Dixon is preceded in death by her husband Ivan as well as her sons Ivan Dixon III and N'Gai Christopher Dixon. She is survived by her son Alan Kimara Dixon and daughter Doris Nomathande Dixon. At her request, there are no services planned.