Dr. Joyce Dixon

Obituary For Dr. Joyce Dixon

Dr. Joyce Martin Dixon gained her wings and ascended into heaven peacefully on Wednesday, October 12, 2022, at Wesley Long Hospital. Her funeral service will be held on Thursday, October 20, 2022 at 12 noon at Providence Baptist Church. The visitation will begin at 11:30 am. Burial will follow at Martin's Chapel Baptist Church Cemetery in Mebane, North Carolina.

Joyce was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, to the late Kelly Luke Martin and Dither Novella Jeffries Martin, where she lived with her family as a child on McConnell Road. Joyce had four siblings who preceded her in death – Mary Mernelle Martin, Ronald Martin, Raymond Martin, and Barbara Ann Martin. She graduated from James B. Dudley High School in 1952 and Bennett College in 1956. Her mother and both her sisters had also attended Bennett College

Joyce married her childhood sweetheart, the late Lt. Colonel Jacob Dixon, Jr., in 1954; he predeceased her in 2004. Following a successful military career for him and jobs for her in many cities worldwide, they fulfilled a dream by opening the doors to Creative Management Technology, Inc., a government Services firm in Coco Beach, FL, where they managed contracts from Grand Forks, North Dakota to the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. Their business portfolio included VIP Transportation, Aircraft, Train, Housing, Janitorial, Ground Maintenance, Technical Libraries, and Pest Control. They were honored for “Superior Performance” by The White House, Kennedy Space Center, and The City of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Joyce and Jacob had two children, the late Capt. Jacob III and Janice Gail. Janice died in 1961 at the age of five with an incurable kidney disease. Joyce and her husband created a scholarship in her memory that they presented yearly in Germany where Janice passed. Jacob III followed in his dad's footsteps and became a U.S. Air Force Pilot. While serving as an instructor pilot in Wichita Falls, Texas, a plane crash resulted in his death at age 27. Joyce was an international leader whose footprint expanded around the globe. She has received numerous honors and many awards for her creative and selfless leadership roles. While serving in a global organization, she initiated “Linkages to Life”, An Organ, Tissue, and Bone Marrow Donation Awareness Program, credited with saving thousands of lives. She taught etiquette classes, helped build several South African schools, and passionately honored peopled with programs such as “Unsung Heroes”, “Shirts of Color”," “Blue Collar Professions”, and “Mama, It's Okay to Stay at Home, and Raise your Children.”

Joyce returned to Greensboro from Florida in 2006 and began a project at Bennett College. Following a tour of dormitories, she organized a team of nine women who professionally decorated parlors in five residential halls and one academic hall. The following year, she placed a fitness center in one dormitory and planned to help put a beauty shop on campus before 2009.

In 2011, Joyce donated $1 million to her alma mater, Bennett College. The donation was for the Martin Dixon Intergenerational Center, a laboratory preschool used by elementary education majors and academics, researching young children and early education. It was built on the same site where her father had formerly operated a barber shop in the 1940s. This donation was the largest alumna donation in the college's history. Joyce continued to fund additional improvements and other projects related to the center, including a fourteen-seat school bus in 2015. She received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bennett College for her philanthropy and a “Woman of Substance” award. Dr. Dixon has served on numerous boards and as chair of the Brevard Community College Board of Trustees, Vice Chair of the Astronauts Memorial Foundation Board, Director of the Southern Area of The Links, Incorporated, President of the Cocoa Beach Women's Golf Association, and the Hayes Taylor Memorial YMCA Board of Management. In addition, Dr. Dixon was awarded the United Negro College Fund's “Outstanding Alumna” award and named Brevard County's “Woman of Distinction”.

Joyce's community service and leadership engagement were very impactful worldwide. She was also an active member of the Greensboro Community and Providence Baptist Church.

She is survived by her nephews: Sergeant First Class (Retired) Bennie R. Burchette Jr. (Adrianne) and Master Sergeant (Retired) Reginald V. Burchette (Marquette); great nieces and nephews: Brandon Nicholas Burchette, Jana Gabrielli Burchette, Jelani Antoinette Burchette, Channing Lee Chamberlain (Sissy & Channing II), Mariah Ann Burchette, Makayla Marquette Burchette, Demarcus Vernard Burchette; and a host of close relatives and friends.

In lieu of flowers, Memorial Contributions can be made to: In honor of Dr. Joyce Martin Dixon, Martin Dixon Intergenerational Center (Bennett College) 600 Gorrell Street Greensboro, North Carolina 27406

The Linkage to Life (www.macongalinks.org) or a Charity of one's choice