Dixie Rose Sawyer

Dixie Rose Sawyer, beloved educator, went home to be with the Lord quietly at her home, Tuesday, February 2, 2021. She was surrounded by loving family.

Mrs. Sawyer was born February 11, 1931 in Jonesville NC to parents T. W. and Etta Rose. She is a graduate of Jonesville High School and East Carolina University with a Bachelor of Science Degree. She would continue her studies and get her Master of Arts Degree from East Carolina University. She would then continue post-graduate work at the Teachers College, Columbia University. In college, she met and married Milton Sawyer Sr. As well as her teaching degrees, she later obtained her Real Estate License.

Mrs. Sawyer loved and thrived teaching First Grade at West Hollywood Elementary School in Hollywood, Florida. She retired after teaching for 35 1/2 years. Whether at school or in life she could always be found teaching a small child how to read and write. Many times she would tell stories of children that would come back many years after graduating and thank her for taking such an interest in their lives.

In her later years, Mrs. Sawyer flourished as a mentor in her Breast Cancer Survivor Support Group, always desiring a way to give back and help others.

Mrs. Sawyer’s greatest love was her home church, Sheridan Hills Baptist in Hollywood, Florida. Until the Lord called her home, she continued to have an unquenchable desire to read and study her Bible daily. Her favorite book in the Bible was Proverbs. She would read a chapter daily. Later she would tell her niece, Mary Byrd, that reading the Bible daily was the key to having a fruitful and successful life.

She is preceded in life by her father T. W. Rose and her mother Etta Rose, her brother James Rose, her sister and brother in law Lucy and Richard Barnard, her sisters Dottie Hutchens and Mary Blackman, her niece Shannon Gastrich, and her nephew James "Rocky" Dapp. Her memories will continue to be cherished by her surviving nieces and nephews, Tony and Lisa Barnard, Kevin and Mary Byrd, Thomas Dapp, Casey Sayles, Michael and Yexel Sayles, Randall and Mary Etta Snow. Also cherishing her memories are her great nieces and great nephews and great great nieces and great great nephews.

The family requests memorials be made to Samaritan's Purse, www.samaritanspurse.org , on the Dixie Rose Sawyer memorial page or by using the link: https://www.samaritanspurse.org/memorial-page/dixie-rose-sawyer-hollywood-fl/

A funeral service will be held at Arlington First Baptist Church in Jonesville, NC on Saturday, February 20, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. with Rev. James Wingler officiating. Entombment will follow in the church cemetery. Mrs. Sawyer will lie-in-state from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. prior to the service at the church.