2007
William J. Dixon, 83, an attorney for the old Civil Aeronautics Board and later a House committee, died June 22 at George
Washington University Hospital of complications of pulmonary illness.
A native Washingtonian, Mr. Dixon was born in the back seat of an automobile as his parents rushed to the old Garfield Hospital.
While growing up, he delivered The Washington Post and worked part time at Giant, Safeway and the Naval Gun Factory. He
graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1941.
He enlisted in the Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor and served as an antiaircraft gunner on the aircraft carrier USS
Independence. He fought in the battles of Midway, Guam and Tarawa. Mr. Dixon contracted tuberculosis and spent a number of
months in Navy hospitals until he was honorably discharged.
He returned to Washington, attended the University of Maryland and then transferred to George Washington University Law
School, where he received a law degree in 1950. Thirteen years later, GWU awarded him a bachelor's degree.
Mr. Dixon worked at the National Labor Relations Board for several years and then moved to Louisville to work for a law firm
there. He returned to the District in 1955 and became a senior trial attorney at the Civil Aeronautics Board.
In 1964, he was asked to advise the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, where he worked on legislation
such as the daylight savings bill and the National Transportation Safety Act. While working there, he lost his vision. Under
treatment at the Veterans Administration hospital in the District, he started a low-vision support group.
Mr. Dixon retired from government service in 1974. He was hospitalized in 1978 due to chronic alcoholism and subsequently
joined Alcoholics Anonymous. He became a volunteer at Providence Hospital and in 1984 was certified as an addictions
counselor. He spent the rest of his life counseling others with the disease.
Survivors include his wife of 49 years, Eugenia Moore Dixon of Washington; five sons, Monsignor Bennet William Dixon of
Roanoke, Thomas Watson Dixon of Leesburg, James Jefferson Dixon of Frederick, Damien Joseph Dixon of Port Charlotte, Fla.,
and Timothy Patrick Dixon of Falling Waters, W.Va.; a sister, Leila Kirby of Solomons Island; eight grandchildren; and four
great-grandchildren.