Berlie Mae (Ray) Dixon (1930 - 2019)

Born 5 Apr 1930 in Charlotte, Mecklenburg, North Carolina, USA

Wife of Ivan Nathaniel Dixon III — married 1 Jun 1954 in Durham County, North Carolina, USA

Died 9 Feb 2019 at age 88 in Charlotte, Mecklenburg, North Carolina, USA

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Biography

Berlie (Ray) Dixon is a part of US Black heritage.

Berlie was born in 1930. She passed away in 2019.^[1]

She married Ivan Dixon on 1 June 1954 in Durham, North Carolina.^[2]

Obituary

"Berlie Ray Dixon CHARLOTTE - Berlie Ray Dixon passed away February 9, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Berlie was a beautiful soul, loved deeply by many. Born in Badin, North Carolina on April 5th 1930 and reared in New Bern, North Carolina, she graduated from West Street High School in 1948 and from what is now North Carolina Central University in 1952. During this period she excelled academically and showed great talent in the dramatic arts. Upon graduation, as a Rockefeller Scholar, she moved to Cleveland, Ohio to study theater at Western Reserve University. As a part of her studies, Berlie was active as a performer, director and educator at the renowned Karamu House where she was instrumental in developing their Children's Theater. In 1954 she married her college sweetheart Ivan Nathaniel Dixon and he joined her at Karamu. In 1955 she graduated as one of the first African Americans to receive a Master of Fine Arts Degree from Western Reserve. Later, after moving to New York City, she continued her work with youth, producing shows that united at-risk teens from various boroughs. In Los Angeles, while building a family, she managed to remain active in the theater as an actor and as a director of various children's theater groups and large scale variety shows. During the late 1980s she returned to her work with at-risk youth, helping educate and employ hundreds of young people as a recruiter for L.A. Job Corps. Mrs. Dixon is preceded in death by her husband Ivan as well as her sons Ivan Dixon III and N'Gai Christopher Dixon. She is survived by her son Alan Kimara Dixon and daughter Doris Nomathande Dixon. At her request, there are no services planned."^[3][4]

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/18689215/person/372084415641/facts
2. ↑ Marriage: "North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Records, 1741-2011"
   North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 60548 #14589261 (accessed 2 April 2023)
   Berlie Mae Ray (24) marriage to Ivan Dixon on 1 Jun 1954 in Durham, North Carolina, USA.
3. ↑ Charlotte Observer on Feb. 18, 2019
4. ↑ https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/charlotte/obituary.aspx?n=berlie-dixon&pid=191583354

• Marriage: "North Carolina, County Marriages, 1762-1979"
  citing Durham, North Carolina, United States, p. , North Carolina State Archives Division of Archives and History; FHL microfilm .
  FamilySearch Record: QP9P-C611 (accessed 25 December 2022)
  FamilySearch Image: 3Q9M-CSHK-43N6-K Image number 01376
  Berlie Mae Ray (24) marriage to Ivan Dixon (23) on 1 Jun 1954 in Durham, North Carolina, United States.
• North Carolina County Registers of Deeds. Microfilm. Record Group 048. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.
• https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=60548&h=9781708&ssrc=pt&tid=18689215&pid=372084415641&usePUB=true