Dixie Frances Bell Brittain

Funeral services for Dixie Frances Bell Brittain, 91, of Hudson will be held Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. at Christ Congregational Church with Reverend Randall K. Green officiating. Interment will follow in the Old Union Cemetery.

Mrs. Brittain was born January 15, 1931 on Fort Eustis, Virginia, to the late Agnes (McGlothlin) Bell and Col. Clyde Beauchamp Bell, Sr., and died Sunday, November 13, 2022 at her residence.

Dixie very much enjoyed her working life as a pharmacist for more than 30 years. She worked at several pharmacies in Lufkin during her career, including Noble Drug, Cavanaugh-Peden Drug and Abeldt’s Pharmacy.  Dixie enjoyed reading mysteries, traveling around the country with husband Joe, particularly trips to Tennessee to visit her family home. She was an active member of her card group and had tremendous fun with her dining-out group, affectionately known as “The Blue Mafia”. Dixie was a devoted and proud grandmother and loved activities involving her granddaughters.  She was a life-long Methodist and a member of First United Methodist Church of Lufkin and attended Christ Congregational Church in Lufkin.

Dixie was born into a military family and enjoyed growing up on various Army bases around the United States. Her fondest childhood memories were of summer vacations traveling across the country to visit family. When Dixie was 10, her father was stationed at Hickam Field in Hawaii and she remembered vividly December 7, 1941, when her mother rushed her to safety in the closet when Pearl Harbor was bombed.

The family eventually returned to Tennessee where Dixie graduated from Gallatin High School. She attended Middle Tennessee State University and then the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy, where she was one of only two women in her graduating class. After graduation, she worked as a pharmacist in Jackson, Tennessee. When Dixie and a few nurses from the local hospital heard that Texas might be a good place to work in the medical field, they decided to check out that rumor. A short time later found Dixie hired as a pharmacist at Memorial Hospital in Lufkin. A mutual friend introduced her to Joe Ed Brittain, and they soon married and settled in Lufkin.  She and Joe later welcomed their daughter.

Survivors include her daughter and son-in-law, Ruth and Ted Chinn of Mesquite; granddaughters, Elaine Brittain Chinn, Laura Katherine Chinn and Hannah Grace Chinn; brother-in-law and sisters-in-law, Bob Jumper and Betty Lou Brittain Jumper of Hudson and Sandra M. Bell of Clarksville, Tennessee; and numerous beloved nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews and great-great nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Joseph E. Brittain in May 2022; brothers, Col. Clyde B. Bell, Jr. and wife Gail and William A. Bell; and nephew William A. Bell, Jr.

Pallbearers will be Ethan Brown and Marcus Brown.

Memorial gifts may be made to the Old Union Cemetery Association at 461 S. FM 1194, Lufkin, Texas, 75904 or to the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy, where Dixie earned her degree in 1953. Gifts can be made online at: https://giving.uthsc.edu/brittain or mailed to: UTHSC Office of Development and Alumni Affairs, 62 South Dunlap, Suite 500, Memphis, TN 38103. Checks can be made out to the UT Foundation; please include “Memorial gift for Dixie Brittain” on the memo line.

The family wishes to extend its deepest gratitude to caregivers Courtney Mosby, Zenobia Horn, Misty Holt, Lonnie Lorenzi, Kathy Moore, Sherry Price, Crystal Arnold, Elton Arnold and Gwen Thompson of Visiting Angels, as well as to Hospice in the Pines.

The family will welcome friends and loved ones from 1:00 to 2:00 pm Saturday afternoon at the church prior to the services.

Memories and condolences may be added at www.carrowayfuneralhome.com .

Carroway Funeral Home, Lufkin, directors.