Dixie Scheiderer has enjoyed a life filled with love and hard work.
This summer, Dixie chose to share her blessings with NOSW, offering a $20,000 matching gift if NOSW could raise $20,000. More than 30 people and organizations pitched in during the month of July to help NOSW meet this challenge.
Born and raised in Ohio, Dixie was part of a family that had its roots in Catlettsburg, Kentucky, but had moved to Ohio during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
“I had absolutely wonderful parents,” she says. Her family were farmers, and Dixie and a sister would train and show horses. By the time she was 13, Dixie’s family had split up and she went to work babysitting for a local family, working in a butcher shop and tending horses, all while finishing school at night. Though she worked hard, Dixie also felt supported. “I had good people around me.”
When she was 19, she met Jake Scheiderer at a local fair. She was showing horses, and he was showing cattle. She went home that evening knowing she would marry him.
“We had two dates and then got married,” Dixie says. “We had a lovely, lovely relationship as far as how we thought about each other.”
Jake’s family had farmed one of the oldest cattle herds in Ohio, and he and Dixie farmed together before turning the farm over to their son in 1977. Dixie ran a small cheese business on the farm that produced European cheeses for high-end stores. “We had a good time at it,” she says.
For many years, Dixie was plagued with a colon condition that caused multiple hospitalizations. She found a doctor in Lexington who could provide specialized care, and she and Jake moved to Kentucky in 2007. Then, in 2014, Jake passed away at age 81. He was 15 years older than Dixie.
Now 77, Dixie lives in Rockcastle County near Mount Vernon. She gives credit for her current quality of life to Hospice, which provides in-home care that enables her to continue living on her own. She has three children, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
When asked why Dixie chose NOSW as the recipient of her generosity, she said, “The Lord told me to. That’s exactly how I do my life.”
