Dixie LaMar

Dixie (Marsh) Houseal LaMar passed away peacefully on Signal Mountain, TN on the morning of February 21, 2019. Dixie was born in Petersburg, TN on April 18, 1930 to Marion Patterson and Dixie Dysart Marsh. Dixie enjoyed a loving childhood as the youngest of four children, expertly loved by a doting family, including her grandmothers, aunts
and siblings, Buddy, Abie and Marian. After graduating from Peabody College, she moved to Birmingham, AL to live near her older sister Marian. After a brief stint teaching elementary school, she became a gate agent for Eastern Airlines, which sparked a life-long love of travel and adventure. While working there, she met and fell in love with Walter Sessions Houseal. They were married and had three adoring daughters, who she stayed home to raise throughout their early childhood. After Walter’s death in 1978, Dixie went back to work, this time at a travel agency in Chattanooga, TN. She stayed focused on lovingly raising her girls and building her business for roughly the next 15 years. She eventually owned her own successful travel agency and was able to travel with her girls extensively. In 1994, she married Col. Andrew Wilton LaMar, Jr. of Waverly, AL and they had a wonderful second chapter which included their traveling the world with dear friends, playing an enormous amount of poker and enjoying their combined 7 children and 14 grandchildren.
After Andy’s death in 2015, Dixie returned home to Tennessee and found a wonderful community of friends at Alexian Village. She continued to enjoy travel, deep friendships and her extraordinarily tightly knit family throughout her life. She will be very truly missed by many. Dixie was preceded in her death by her husbands, Walter Sessions Houseal and Col. Andrew Wilton LaMar, Jr. She
is survived by her daughters, Dixie Houseal Rapuano and her husband Ken, Mary Sessions “Sissy” Powell and her husband Bill, Marian Houseal Hoffman and her husband Mike, granddaughters Melissa Street, Taylor Rapuano, Mary Bridges, Laura Powell, Claire Rapuano and grandsons Scott Rapuano, Will Rapuano, Michael Hoffman, Matthew Hofman and Walter Hoffman. She is also survived by her LaMar step-children Julie Shoemaker, Andy Lamar III, Lucy
Lee LaMar and Bill LaMar. A celebration of Dixie’s life will be held at the Alexian Village St Augustine Chapel on February 25, 2019 at 3:00 pm. There will a brief visitation before the service starting at 2pm. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to www.pottersfield.org or www.macularhope.org. Arrangements entrusted to Lane Funeral Home ~ Ashland Terrace, 601 Ashland Terrace, Chattanooga, TN 37415
423-877-3524 www.lanefh.com