Dixie Curtis

1929 - 2021

Dixie L. Curtis, formerly of Yuma, Arizona, and Lake Stevens/Camano Island, Washington, died peacefully with family in Hilton Head Island, SC, on February 22, 2021. Born November 14, 1929 at St. Mary's hospital in Tuscon, AZ, her ancestors were among the pioneers that settled St. David in the late 1800's. After her father James Curtis died in 1937, the family moved to the Phoenix area, after which she was raised by her mother, and then to include kindly family and friends, in rough depression era circumstances, where biscuits and gravy were the daily staple. She went to work young at a soda counter and married early. A shed became her first house as a married woman in Arizona, which quickly proved to be uninhabitable for a baby, without air conditioning, heat, or insect control and they moved in with her husband's family. His family's memory is that she was the beautiful redhead who rode the family's stallion in the local parade down main street. Dixie departed Arizona in the early 1950's, eventually remarrying, and moving to Washington, residing in Chehalis, Seatac, Des Moines, Lake Stevens, and Camano Island, and then to Yuma, AZ. As a single mother of three in the Seattle area, she worked as a cocktail waitress at the Sea-Tac airport, serving many celebrities as they passed through. After having had three children (Jim, John Branden, Robin), Dixie married John LeBlanc in 1966, whereupon she gained three more daughters (Denise, Dyann and Debbie). After moving to Lake Stevens, she became a talented window treatment seamstress; administered timber contracts at the Verlot Forest Service office near Granite Falls, WA; and then a contract administrator for Providence Hospital, Everett, WA. Retiring to Yuma, AZ, in 1990, to join her mother and sister Joyce. There she lived on her own for almost three decades until age 90. Dixie was a strong woman with a dry wit, who enjoyed her many friends and activities in Yuma. She could be found attending weekly movies, singles lunch events and Sunday brunches, as well as her favorite pastimes of dancing, thrift store shopping, volunteering (until age 88) at the Hospice of Yuma Thrift Store and frequenting the Mexican food establishments. In July 2020, with her health declining, she moved to be with her daughter Robin and son-in-law Tom on Hilton Head Island, SC. She leaves her brother Fred and his wife Jewell, Sierra Vista, AZ; son John Branden LeBlanc and wife Antoinette, Everett, WA; daughters, Robin McPhillips and husband Tom, Hilton Head, SC; Denise LeBlanc and husband Ted Haugstad, Marysville, WA; Dyann Arthur and her husband Rick, Mill Creek, WA; and Daughter-in-Law Vicki Long, Des Moines, WA, as well as many loved grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and dear friends. She was predeceased by her sister Joyce Durant, son Jim Long and daughter Deborah LeBlanc. Heartfelt thanks go to the kind and compassionate nurses and staff of the Hospice of the Low Country, an organization for which Dixie and her entire family are sincerely thankful. Dixie will be buried Saturday, February 27, 4:00, in the family plot at the St. David Cemetery, St. David, Arizona, where a graveside service will be held. Richardson Funeral Home in Benson, AZ, is handling burial arrangements.

November 14, 1929 - February 22, 2021