Library executive, children’s literature expert Dixon dies

Friday, Aug. 6, 2004 | 8:48 a.m.

Joyce Dixon's passion for bringing books to children through library services kept her up nights.

"She would read in bed at night about how to improve libraries and librarians," husband Paul Dixon said.

"She was a very innovative thinker," her husband of 32 years said.

Dixon, 57, died Monday in her sleep from lung cancer.

A nonsmoker all of her life, Dixon may have contracted the disease from growing up in a family of smokers at her Houston home, her husband said.

Nationally recognized for her knowledge of children's literature -- she served on the Caldecott Medal Committee and the Newbery Medal Committee -- Dixon was hired by the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District as the youth services coordinator in January 1987.

She had served in the San Francisco Library District for 15 years before moving to Las Vegas with her husband, an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service.

She transferred to the West Charleston Library as a reference librarian in the children's section in June 1995.

In January 1996 she transferred to Spring Valley as a reference librarian.

In February 1996 Dixon became an assistant administrator, a post she held until September 1998, when she became the head of the children's services department at Sahara West Library.

Then in April 2001 she was promoted to regional library administrator.

"Joyce was among the most amazing women I've known," said Daniel Walters, executive director of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, in an e-mail sent to all library employees.

"She was smart, caring, intense and unstoppable if she had a bee in her bonnet," Walters said.

A memorial service has been scheduled for 11 a.m. on Aug. 21 at the Lakes Lutheran Church.

Born in Houston on July 27, 1947, Dixon was a member of the American Library Association, the Nevada Library Association and the Lakes Lutheran Church of Las Vegas.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by two daughters, Sarah Ann Huelin of Farmington, Conn., and Molly Christine Dixon of Las Vegas, and a sister, Sherryn Brooks, of Harlingen, Texas. She has two grandchildren.

Palm Mortuary at 1600 S. Jones Blvd. is handling arrangements.