Betty Dixon
Betty Dixon, an emeritus International Mission Board missionary who shared the gospel in Brazil, Angola, South Africa and Portugal, died Oct. 21, 2019, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She was 84.
Dixon was born Dec. 30, 1934, in Jay, Oklahoma, to Clyde and Mary McCown. Dixon attributed her initial desire to serve in missions to a dedicated Christian influence and a missions program at her church. Through Girls in Action, a missions program through Woman’s Missionary Union, Dixon’s eyes were opened to the spiritual need of the lost world around her. At age 12, she surrendered her life to foreign missions.
A 1956 graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU), Dixon credited the fostering of her passions for ministry and missions to her time in college. While at OBU Dixon was involved in various on-campus groups focusing on ministry and missions. During the summers of her college years, she served in various outlets of ministry and her desire to serve overseas only grew.
She married Curtis Dixon Aug. 12, 1956. While unsure as to how marrying a Baptist minister fit into her calling to overseas missions, Dixon trusted the Lord’s plan. “God seemed to be saying, ‘Wait a while and trust me. You will still go to the foreign mission field someday,’” said Dixon.
The Dixons were appointed as IMB missionaries Aug. 16, 1966, to serve in São Paulo, Brazil. After a year in São Paulo, they moved to Goiãs, a state in central Brazil, in 1967 and served later in Angola, South Africa and Portugal, completing 28 years of service before their retirement.
When seeking missionary appointment, Dixon wrote in a letter to the then Foreign Mission Board, “Although I have felt for nineteen years that someday I would be a foreign missionary, I am more assured now than ever that this is God’s will for my life. I am ready to go to Brazil and burn out my life for Jesus,’ she said.
Dixon is survived by her husband of 63 years, Curtis, her sons Kent, Mark and Clark and their respective families.
A memorial service was held Oct. 25, 2019, at Quail Springs Baptist Church, Oklahoma.
Read an obituary here.