Back in the Saddle at 100: Once a rider, always a rider
By KAREN D. SMITH, The Amarillo Globe-News
May 25, 2004

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Woman celebrates 100th birthday on horseback
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"I think it's the most remarkable thing I've seen in years," said Canyon Mayor Lois Rice, a guest for the party. "Let me tell you, I only hope I can be half that good when I'm 90 or 100. I think she's such a neat lady. She's my new hero." Conner House administrator Lorry Parker and assistant administrator Annette Black called Dixon extremely independent, down to her weekly trips out to play dominoes with friends.

"We assist her with nothing," Parker said. A native of Roosevelt, Okla., Dixon has four living children: daughters Shirley Stockstill and Sheila Burkett of Canyon; Jody Perkins of Angel Fire, N.M.; and Sherma Miller of Grand Junction, Colo. A son, Joe, and daughter, Linda, are deceased. Her family tree includes 14 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and 16 great-great-grandchildren.

The centenarian couldn't exactly pinpoint the reason behind her longevity. "I cannot, for sure, say,"
Dixon said. "But I can say for sure that I lived every year of the 100. I did not sit around and pass the time."