Dixie Gibbons

Kearney resident, 79

KEARNEY - Dixie M. Gibbons, 79, of Kearney died Tuesday, April 27, 2010, at Mount Carmel Home Keens Memorial.

Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at O'Brien-Straatmann Funeral Home in Kearney with the Rev. Dean Pofahl officiating. Burial will be at 1 p.m. at Elm Creek Cemetery. Visitation will be from 5-7 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home.

She was born Sept. 9, 1930, in Little Sioux, Iowa, to William and Shirley (Conyers) Swearingen.

In September 1948, she married Max Gibbons in Benton, Ark. They divorced. He died in 1994.

Survivors include her son, William and his wife, Mickey, of Azle, Texas; daughters, Vicki of Rio Rancho, N.M., and Kathy Sayer and her husband, Larry, of Kearney; nine grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

She grew up in Elm Creek and graduated from Elm Creek High School in 1947.

She received her bachelor of arts degree in business education from Kearney State College in 1973.

Earlier on in her career she owned a café in Oconto. In 1973, she moved to North Platte, where she worked as a social worker for Region II for the state of Nebraska Department of Social Services. She then moved to Grand Island in 1974 and worked for Region III, also in social services. From 1975 to 1978, she became regional field supervisor for CETA, state Department of Labor in Grand Island.

She later moved to Lincoln and became manager of Community Employers' Services Unit. She worked there until ill heath caused her retirement.

She was a member of the Kearney Eagles Club, Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion Auxiliary. Her pastimes included bowling, shuffleboard and dancing.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Warren.

Memorials will be established.

Online condolences may be submitted to osafh.com.