Dixie Lee Blum

Dixie Blum died peacefully at her home in Troy, Idaho, on March 18, surrounded by her family. She was eighty-two years old.

Dixie Lee Shaw was born July 16, 1941, in Las Vegas, New Mexico, to her parents, Roland and Maurine Shaw. From an early age, music was a significant part of her life, and she played many instruments and worked at a record shop. Prior to her senior year of high school, her family moved to Nampa, Idaho, where she joined the high school band. On the first day of band class, she met a handsome young man. Noel & Dixie celebrated their engagement with a party on Valentine’s Day, 1959, and they were married in June. They moved to Moscow and then to Troy, where Dixie continued to play the piano, organ, and French horn for church services, concerts, and in orchestral productions, often accompanying Noel’s voice. She also enjoyed volunteering in hospice, taking in foster children, riding horses and ATVs, and raising her five children.

Dixie is survived by her husband Noel and four of her children—Alec Blum of Moscow, Idaho, Curtis Blum and Doug Blum of Troy, Idaho, and Emily Montgomery of Yukon, Oklahoma. She was preceded in death by her son Brian Blum. In addition, Noel and Dixie had twelve grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Noel and Dixie were married for 64 years.

Her no-nonsense attitude toward life, her fascination with the world’s never ending wonders, and her faithfulness to God and her family, will not soon be forgotten. And though she is missed here on earth, she is in a better place now, and would probably tell all of us whose lower lips tremble with sadness at her passing, “Be careful—if you stick that lip out any further, a little bird will come poop on it.”