Pat Dixon passed away on August 10, 2022, in Allen, Texas at the age of 92. A resident of Seattle, WA, since 1965, Pat touched the lives of many and made friends with all whom she met. Pat was born to Lewis and Marie O’Byrne, in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, on November 12, 1929. She grew up in The North of Saskatchewan in the farming community of Arborfield. The fifth of ten siblings from an Irish Catholic family, she was intelligent, athletic, and witty. Her family struggled to provide for ten children through the crop failures of the depression but were steadfast in their belief in education for all their children regardless of gender. She attended a one-room school through ninth grade, and then attended grades ten through college at Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, completing her Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in June of 1951. After working in the welfare field for several years, she entered the University of Ottawa in 1956 and completed her Masters in Social Work in June of 1958. While her education was the goal, it was the lifelong friendships she made at Notre Dame and U of O that she cherished the most. She did the training for her Master’s work in Pittsburgh, PA, and Rochester, NY. After completing her Masters, she moved to London, Ontario, where, at a party, she met a dashing Englishman, Gerard (“Ged”) Dixon, whom she eventually married in October of 1959. Pat and Ged moved to Toronto where she supervised graduate students at the University of Toronto and did field consulting work for the University of Ottawa. During this time, they had two girls, Cathy and Jo-Anne, before moving to Seattle in March of 1965.

In 1966, Pat was hired on to the faculty of the School of Social Work at the University of Washington. This is when Pat began her life-long love of the UW Husky Football team (“Bow Down to Washington!!”). She had faculty season tickets and attended every game she could until she moved to Texas in 2019. In 1983, the King County Superior Court asked Pat to develop an advocacy program for children involved in highly contested divorces. The Court Appointed Special Advocate Program (“CASA”) was the first of its kind in the country and the CASA program has since been adopted by many states and jurisdictions. Pat was the Director until her retirement in 1995.

Her family and friends brought her the most joy in her life. Pat shared a wonderful life with Ged and the girls. Summers at the lake house, skiing on family trips to Canada, and countless social gatherings at their home in Magnolia, were all built on the loving partnership she and Ged shared until he was too soon taken by cancer in 1988. Their marriage was anchored by their Catholic faith, and it was a large part of their life together as well as her life after Ged had passed.

Pat had a lifelong calling to help others and volunteerism was an important part of her life. Since 1966, she has been involved with her parish, Our Lady of Fatima in Magnolia, and the ACC organization, (Advocacy and Caring for Children), which raises money to help women and children through, among other things, the bi-annual “Magnolia Tour of Homes,” and the ACC endowment Pat established. At Fatima she was a Eucharistic Minister, a Lector, on the Finance Committee, and involved in almost every level of her parish at one point or another. The women she met in her parish and the ACC group have grown to be lifelong friends.

Pat spent her life building and celebrating community any chance she could, and the community of Magnolia was truly her home. The door to her house was always open (or at least everyone had a key), and she is probably best known for her gracious hospitality. Her parties were legendary for UW friends, ACC dinners, King County court friends' birthdays, neighborhood parties – any reason—or no reason—to have folks over for a glass of wine and cheese, she took it. She seldom had days or evenings alone, there was always a constant parade of visiting family and friends of all ages for short or long periods of time. Everyone she met was the most interesting person she could be with at that moment in time. People just loved being around her. She enjoyed nothing more than her lattes with friends in the village, her dog walks with Piper or Hazel on Magnolia Boulevard or in Discovery Park, and her shopping trips to the grocery store that were known to take hours since she spent little time actually shopping and most of the time visiting with folks she “ran into at the store”.

In her final years, she moved to Texas to be close to family. She continued to enjoy being around people, sharing meals with friends and family, making phone calls, and keeping up with those she loved. In her final few years, she would reminisce quite a bit about her childhood on the farm in Saskatchewan, her horse “Queen”, her family, and her life in Arborfield. It was clear from the stories she shared that her love for her family and the deep connections she had with her parents and her brothers and sisters (the Big 10) were her most cherished. She has now reunited with those whom she loved who have gone before her.

Pat was predeceased by her husband, Ged Dixon, in 1988. She is survived by her two daughters, Cathy McDonald (Charles Swift) of Dallas, Texas, Jo-Anne Dixon (James Coyle), her two grandchildren, Signe Dixon and Per Dixon, of Bend, Oregon, and her sister, Louise Haine of Houston, Texas.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m., Friday, September 30, 2022 at Our Lady of Fatima Parish, 3218 W. Barrett St., Seattle. 

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, Canada (the “She’s a Hound” Initiative), or to Advocacy and Caring for Children (“ACC”) in Seattle,