Dixie Harris

Dixie Mae Scott Harris age ninety-nine and nine months passed away at the home of her daughter, Ronda, and son-in-law, Wade Olsen, on Saturday, March 2, 2013 in Vernal, Utah. She was born May 25, 1913 in Leeds, Utah to Sarah Elinor Stirling and Wilson Lenoir (Lee) Scott. Dixie married Fred Burt Harris on September 14, 1945 in Parowan, Utah. The couple had three children: Geneva, Ronda, and Irene. She was always an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At the age of four, her father, Wilson Scott, died of kidney failure leaving her mother with three children to raise: Jessie Scott (Redmond), Dixie Scott (Harris), and Wilson Scott. Dixie graduated from the B.A.C. or the Branch Agriculture College in May of 1932. The B.A.C. was a branch of what is now Utah State University. It had three high school and two college grades. After her graduation from high school in 1932, her cousin, VeRue Tullis, invited her to move to Eureka and take up work as a maid for the Fitch family. This was in the middle of The Depression (1930-1940). She moved to Eureka. After leaving Eureka, she went back to Cedar City. A short time later she acquired a job as a waitress working at Cedar Breaks when World War II broke out on September 1, 1939. At that time, all the lodges in the parks were closed. The Air Force Cadets came to Cedar City. They went to school and trained at the college. The Union Pacific garage was turned into a mess hall. The hotel kitchen was the bakery with one baker who was also the butcher. The chef and four cooks, one of whom was a woman, came from the Parks. Dixie was hired as a salad girl working with three other ladies. Dixie traveled to Denver, Colorado by train and worked in the LDS Mission Home the winter before she was married, as a cook. While working in Denver at the Mission Home, she learned to be extremely frugal with her money and safeguarded it for future plans. When she returned to Cedar City, her brother, Wilson, was getting really anxious to move to Arizona and accept a job to work on a large cattle ranch. He had a car that he really wanted to sell so he could follow his dreams. Thats when she bought her first car. It was a black Dodge with a mauve colored interior it was, as she put it, gorgeous. She often commented, I looked really pretty in it when I wore pink! Pink was always her favorite color. She didnt have a drivers license, but then again, not many others did, either. Dixie was preceded in death by her husband, Fred Burt Harris; brother, Wilson Scott; sister Jessie Redmond; oldest daughter, Geneva; and son-in-law Ronald Joseph Forrest. She is survived by her two daughters, Ronda (Wade) Olsen of Vernal, Utah; and Elinor Irene Forrest (Reed) Roholt of Beaver, Utah; five grandchildren; six great grandchildren; one sister-in-law, Louise Stubbs Egan of Parowan, Utah; and many nieces and nephews whom she loved dearly. The funeral will be held at the Beaver Utah Stake Center located at 1350 East 200 North on Friday, March 8, 2013 at 11:00 A.M. A viewing will be held Thursday evening, March 7, 2013 at the Beaver Utah Stake Center from six until eight and one hour prior to services. Burial will be in the Beaver City Cemetery under the direction of the Blackburn Vernal Mortuary.