Dixon Family Page 2

Maude Dixon was about a year old when the Dixon family moved to Derby from Nebraska. She grew up here and attended Derby School where she was one of the better students. When the school began offering high school curriculum, Maude Dixon was one of the first students to enroll. She and Neva Pitts were the first graduates of Derby High School in 1911. A year later she married Albert E. Munn in a simple ceremony that was held in the Dixon home, beautifully decorated with flowers from the garden. Albert was the manager of Derby’s Davidson & Case lumber yard.

Maude and Albert moved to Oklahoma City in 1913 and they were living there in 1927 when Maude died suddenly on May 10th at 34 years of age. She was brought back to Derby and buried in El Paso cemetery the same year that her father died. Albert died in 1938 and was brought back to Derby to be buried next to Maude. Albert and Maude had three daughters: Catherine (Munn) Fatherson, Dorothy (Munn) Colby, and Martha Louise (Munn) Larson.

Mary Marie Dixon was born in Derby about a year after the Dixons moved here. She was also educated in the Derby School and after graduating, attended Fairmount College in Wichita where she was active in school organizations and very popular on campus. In the spring of 1916 she married Harry Crowe Buck, who was head of the physical training department and athletics at Fairmount College. They moved to Madras, India, in 1919 where Harry worked as a government advisor on physical education.

Harry died in 1943 and Marie took a position with a worldwide industrial conglomerate to establish food programs for their national factories. She also created recreational programs for the Madras park department. When she retired, Marie started a non-profit cooperative in southern India, growing cut-flowers for Indian florists. It appears that she picked up her mother’s gardening skills.

Marie died in India and was buried there in 1980.

Madge Dixon was born in 1898 and also completed high school in Derby. She then attended Fairmount College and became a teacher at the Derby School from 1921 to 1925. She married Bernard Swaney, a nephew of Professor J. W. Swaney, in 1925. They farmed north of Derby until the 1940s when they moved to Butler county. Madge died in 1972 and Bernard in 1980; both are buried in El Paso cemetery. Bernard and Madge had two children: Ellsworth Dixon Swaney and Patricia Suzanne Swaney. (See the Swaney family for more information.)