- Date Of Birth: July 10, 1948
- Date Of Death: August 1, 2018
- State: Idaho
Dixie Lee Ackley passed away in the early morning hours of August 1, 2018. She was born in Centralia, Washington in July 1948 to Dean and Bette (Hardcastle) Hellenga.
In the summer of 1967, Dixie married Richard Ackley, and the first of their two daughters, Melody, was born in 1969. Heidi followed three years later in 1972, with the family moving from Ketchikan to Anchorage, Alaska shortly after. After working for a number of medical offices, Dixie graduated from the University of Alaska, Anchorage with a degree in Elementary Education. She went on to teach grades Kindergarten, first, second, and third grades in the Anchorage School District for the next eight years.
When both of her daughters were enrolled in NNC/NNU, Dixie moved out of Alaska to Nampa, Idaho where she statred volunteering on the campus of NNU first in the office of student development. Later, she actually started working part-time in the Admissions office where she retired in February of 2015.
The love of Dixie’s life were her daughters and son’s in law, Melody and Anton Lotter and Ron and Heidi Curtis and her four grandchildren Abbey and Noah Lotter and Bradley and Maddie Curtis. There was not a bigger cheerleader at baseball games, tennis matches, swim meets, and choir and band concerts than Grammie. Anyone who met her would have heard either about one of the kids or grandkids, probably more than once.
The family would like to say a special thanks to friends and extended family for helping us care for Mom throughout the years. Also, to her beloved doctors Dr. Loveless, Dr. Dee, Dr. Poole, and Dr. Stritzke, thank you for keeping her moving through years of Rheumatoid Arthritis. A special thank you to the doctors, nurses, and staff at St. Luke’s Nampa for their tender care over the past few weeks.
