Dixie Lysons graduated from the UW with a B.A. in 1938 and became a post-high school counselor at Franklin High School. She later became friends with Lucile Thompson, daughter of Carrie Cowgill Thompson, the first woman to receive a scholarship from the UW.

In 1946, Carrie, Lucile and Dixie, along with three other women, formed the UW Alumnae Board to continue the University's tradition of awarding scholarships to women. Lucile served as the UWAB's first president and Dixie was elected president in 1947.

In 1939, Dixie married her high school beau, Hilton Hayden Lysons, who was also a UW graduate ('37, B.S. Mechanical Engineering). The couple settled in Seattle and raised one son, Donald Lysons, a second-generation Husky ('63, B.A.; Res. '71, anesthesiology) who served on the UW's clinical faculty in the department of anesthesiology from 1973-1983. Dixie's grandson, Joshua Lysons, graduated from the UW with a B.A. in 1996 and is currently working on his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. Three generations of Huskies make Dixie particularly special not only to the University but to the UWAB as she continues to support its scholarship program.

When Dixie was counseling students from Franklin High School on choices they could make after graduating from high school, she would often receive letters from universities around the country looking for students she could recommend. One student she knew would be an excellent candidate for Yale, which was seeking a more diversified student body. He was an honor student, competed on the swim team, and sang in the school choir. He was also an Asian American who was active in student government, and Dixie thought he would be a perfect fit at Yale.

He soon was offered a "fantastic" aid and scholarship package and entered Yale in 1968. Upon graduation from Yale, he earned his J.D. from Boston University Law School and returned to Seattle to become the first Chinese-American governor in the United States—Washington Gov. Gary Locke.

Dixie is proud of her influence and mentoring of Gary as a young high school student.

2009 marks the 100th anniversary of the first UW scholarship awarded to a woman and Dixie, now 94, resides on Mercer Island and keeps up with the UWAB. She continues to inspire UWAB members to award scholarships to outstanding students who excel in academics, community service and demonstrate a strong work ethic. Thank you, Dixie!

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