Joseph Henry Nixon III

Joseph Henry Nixon III, of Vienna, VA, died on Saturday, August 9, 2025, at Iliff. He was 83. Joe was born to Joseph and Frances Nixon in Charleston, SC, on January 24, 1942. Joe traveled the country and the world throughout his life of service.
He graduated from St. Andrew's Parish High School. Gifted in athletics and academics, he pursued sports ranging from football and fencing to running and swimming while participating in the journalism club and the Mu Alpha Theta Mathematics Club.
In the Army Infantry School, he completed the Airborne Course at Ft. Benning, GA; Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Defense and Portable Flame Thrower instruction at Ft. Clayton, Canal Zone; and Aerial Delivery School at Ft. Kobbe, Canal Zone to prepare him as a parachutist.
After the military, he continued his service first through the Peace Corps and then as an analyst with the Social Security Administration, working at various offices throughout the country. He met and married his wife, Nilda, in Chicago in 1968.
He furthered his education with a master's from Thunderbird University in Arizona. The adventurous couple traveled throughout Europe, visiting tourist sites as well as those off the beaten path, before settling down in Northern VA, first in McLean, and then in Vienna.
He shared the produce from his love of gardening with his neighbors. For many years, he ran marathons but, even after he had to slow down, he was a well-known regular on the Washington and Old Dominion Trail, taking his first-born daughter, Linda, who has severe autism, for long nature walks.
He is survived by two of his three sisters, Frances and Joanie; his sister-in-law, Julie; and two daughters, Linda and Holly.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Our Lady of Good Counsel, Vienna, VA on Thursday, September 4, 2025 at 11 a.m.
Final inurnment will be held at Arlington Cemetery at a later date to be determined. Online condolences and fond memories may be offered to the family at: