Dixie Nell Myrberg

Dixie Nell Myrberg, 94, a longtime Alaska resident, died peacefully on Saturday, January 28, 2023, at the Anchorage Pioneer Home. She was born March 17, 1928, in Cottage Grove, Oregon. Her parents were Richard Harland Bushell and Ardith Helen Waples of Cottage Grove. Dixie graduated in 1946 from Cottage Grove Union High School. She was thrilled when she could attend her 70th class reunion. In 1946, Dixie married Erwin I. Hood and they had three children together, Suzanne, Randall and Sandy. They divorced in 1950. She married Donald Judd in 1952. They had three children, Dixie, Tammy and April. That marriage ended in 1973. In 1981, Dixie married Donald Myrberg. Don preceded her in death in 1989. While raising six children, she and husband Donald Judd moved to Alaska in 1959. The family lived in Fairbanks, Homer and Anchorage. During her time in Homer, Dixie ran the local Family Cafe with her good friend Karen Nussbaum, worked at a cannery, and was active in the Women’s Auxiliary where she successfully spearheaded funding efforts to get the Homer Museum started. Dixie worked for many years in the Northwest Airlines Flight Kitchen until her retirement. While working there, she fully utilized the benefits of airline flight passes to travel to interesting places. She and husband Don Myrberg saw many sights including the Great Wall of China, the Great Pyramids in Egypt, and they went on a Panama Canal cruise. After her husband died in 1989, she tootled all around the country on her own in a small motorhome making many friends, especially with Loners on Wheels. She cherished all her memories with photos and in scrapbooks. Dixie was an avid reader, and she loved gardening. Each summer her family and neighbors really enjoyed the beautiful flowers she grew on her deck. One of Dixie’s greatest joys in life was cooking wonderful meals for friends and family. She had a flair for food preparation as well as beautiful presentations of her delicious meals. Her grandkids still rave about her fried chicken and how “she made the best deviled eggs in town.” Dixie is survived by six children, Suzanne Covault (Anchorage), Randall Judd (Corvallis, OR), Sandy Dufalo (Graham, WA), Dixie Judd Erickson (Orange Park, FL), Tammy Judd Jenny and husband Doug Jenny (Sitka, AK), April Lindloff and husband Troy Menke (Omaha, NE) and step-daughters Sue Myrberg Robinson and husband Bob Robinson (Punta Gorda, FL) and Judy Myrberg McElderry and husband Coy McElderry (Buckley, WA). She also leaves a brother Richard Bushell (Ridgefield, WA), grandchildren, Sherrie Hill, Donald and Kenny Covault; Rob, Jen and Matt Dufalo; Dessa Shanahan and Mara Erickson-Haber; Steven Rychetnik, Kelsey Reynier, Krista Byars and Casey Rychetnik; and Diana Lindloff; numerous great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews; and her best friend of many years Judy Lervaag. She was preceded in death by her husband Donald Myrberg, stepson Todd Myrberg, grandson Dashiell Erickson and great-grandson Louis Reynier. Dixie requested no funeral be held. She wished for her remains to be returned to her birthplace, Cottage Grove, Oregon. Members of her family will gather this summer in Cottage Grove to deliver her ashes to her final resting place at the family burial plot in Fir Grove Cemetery.