Chat Room

Name: Judy Davis Dixon
Age: 60
Occupation: William Blount High School food service manager; retired May 23 after 27 years.
Married to Raleigh Dixon, one son and daughter-in-law, David and Susan Dixon; grandchildren are Kaeli, 16, Leah, 11 and Lane, 2.

What was your most embarrassing moment?
"The one that stands out the most in my mind was at a family gathering. The children were in the yard playing croquet , and I was running around with them. I didn’t notice one of the hoops in the ground and ended up getting my foot caught and landed flat on my face."

Why did you pursue the career you chose?
"I had never worked in my life at a real job and didn’t have to. I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. Then, after my father’s early and sudden death at age 59, my doctor suggested I get a job. William Blount High School was opening the following year, so I applied for a cashier’s position in the lunchroom."

What is one word others often use to describe you and why?
"Outgoing. All my friends say I can carry on a conversation with anyone."

When you were 5 years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?
"I wanted to be a nurse. I grew up at the back door of Blount Memorial Hospital, and that’s just what I wanted to do."

What was your first paying job?
"For a few weeks I counted nails at the Ship Shop. It was a string art shop in a lady’s house in Maryville."

What do you hate?
"I hate liars and thieves."

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
"I’m a perfectionist."

What is your passion?
"I want all my children, regardless of age, to be safe and happy. It’s my passion to help them be what they are: Children."

What is your dream vacation?
"We met some friends in Townsend who live part of the year in Hawaii. I would love to go visit them on the island of Kauai.

With whom, living or dead, would you most like to have a long lunch?
"This is usually the question where people choose someone famous, but I would simply like to have lunch with my daddy."

Rebels, Tornadoes, Mountains or Governors?
"Duh! Do you really have to ask? Govs of course."

What is your all-time favorite movie?
" ‘Pretty Woman.’ I just love it. I cry and laugh every time I watch it."

What is the best book you’ve ever read?
"I read mostly autobiographies. I enjoyed Al Roker’s autobiography probably the most."

If you could go back in time for a week, what time period or year would you visit and why?
"I loved the 1950s. They were a happy, carefree time."

What character in a book or movie would you most like to be?
"Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. I’d love to float down the river, exploring and getting into trouble."

What is the best Christmas present you ever received?
"I’m very sentimental and my only sister, Vicky, gave me a pair of lace Easter gloves from when she was a child. She put them in a shadow box for safe keeping. I cried."

What is the best anniversary present you ever received?
"On my 26th anniversary, my husband Raleigh finally gave me an engagement ring. Why the 26th? That’s Raleigh."

What is the best advice your mother ever gave you?
"Enjoy life as it goes by so fast."

Did you ever get paddled in school?
"Yes, I was caught chewing gum in Ms. Banks’ fifth grade class at Fort Craig Elementary."

If you were stranded on an island, what one thing would you take?
"A telephone. I really can’t go without talking for any extended period of time."

If you could do one impulsive thing, unrestricted by cost, what would it be?
"I would buy my own mountain and build a house on top of it."

What task or activity have you still not gotten around to doing?
"Weeding my flower bed, or should I say weeding my weed bed."

What are you guilty of?
"Procrastination."

What is one thing you’ve always wanted to do, but haven’t?
"I always wanted to hangglide, but I never had the guts."

What is your favorite material possession?
"My late Granny Hudgens’ Tennessee pearl necklace."