Rosemary Dixon (nee Basich), a loving wife, mother, grandmother, cousin and friend, passed away peacefully on Christmas Eve morning, following a brave three-year battle with cancer. She was in her home of 53 years in San Mateo, California, surrounded by her family and her church minister, who was offering words of prayer.
Rosemary was born on Valentine’s Day, 1941, in Vancouver, BC, to Dane and Luja Basich (nee Rukavina), who were immigrants from Perusic, Lika, Croatia. At the age of 6, Rosemary, along with her parents and younger brother Edward, returned to Croatia, where they lived for four years. When they moved back to Vancouver in 1951, Rosemary had to re-learn the English language. She entered 1st grade at age 10, and ultimately graduated from Vancouver Technical High School as a ‘crack’ typist and secretary, before moving to her beloved San Francisco as an independent young woman looking for a job at age 21.
Within a week, Rosemary had three offers of employment, and she chose the one she had a ‘feeling’ about - as secretary to Dr. F. Gene Dixon, the founder of what was then a small start-up company called the California Dental Service (now Delta Dental), who would become the love of her life. In 1966, at the age of 25, Rosemary married Gene (a widower) and soon after adopted his four children, aged 8 to 16, before having ‘number five’ with Gene the following year. They were married for 41 happy years, caring for their family and often enjoying time at their cabin in Boulder Creek, California. During this time Rosemary also supported Gene greatly in his work advancing the concept of dental care in the United States.
Rosemary created a beautiful, warm and loving home for her family and friends to enjoy for five decades. She was an impeccable and talented homemaker, cook, seamstress and gardener; a true ‘care-giver’, always thinking of everyone else. She was active in the Presbyterian Church, involved with all of her children’s schools, and many philanthropic interests. She particularly loved her involvement with the University of Nebraska, and University of the Pacific, Schools of Dentistry. In later years she and Gene enjoyed traveling to all parts of the world. She was a proud American, having become a naturalized US citizen in 1983.
Rosemary had a pure heart and a gracious spirit. She made friends with people from all walks of life, from all parts of the world. She loved generously, unconditionally, and she was greatly loved in return.
Rosemary is survived by four children: Alicia Dixon Docter (David Docter), Barry Dixon Loya (David Loya), Sally White (Bruce White) and Kathryn Dixon (Robert Gilchrist); three grand-children: Sarah Plumlee (Travis Plumlee), Emilie Fan (Chris Fan) and Leah Olson (Brad Olson); four great-grand-children: Tucker, Ella, Sierra and Callie; and extended family in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and Croatia.
A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, January 8 at 11am at the First Presbyterian Church of San Mateo (194 West 25th Ave at Hacienda), with a reception to follow.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations in Rosemary’s memory to your favored charity, or to hers: The Croatian Scholarship Fund P.O. Box 290 San Ramon, CA 94583 http://www.croatianscholarship.org/join/#donate
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) entries
Sign the guestbook.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.