Dixie Mengel

Dixie Camille Mengel, the daughter of Earl and Leone (Koebrich) Witcraft, was born Feb. 8, 1932, in Fraser and passed from this life April 25 at Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines.

She lived her life to the age of 88 years, two months and 17 days.

Dixie grew up in Fraser and graduated from Pilot Mound High School in 1950. She graduated from Drake University (Alpha Xi Delta) in Des Moines in 1953 and started her teaching career.  

On Dec. 1, 1956, Dixie Witcraft was united in marriage to Dean Mengel at the Methodist Church in Paton. Seven children were born to this union. 

The couple made their home in Paton, and Dean worked for the Greene County Road Maintenance Department and Dixie continued her elementary teaching career. Dixie taught at Paton Consolidated, Prairie of Gowrie and Paton-Churdan schools. She enjoyed being a teacher and many of her friends were from the teaching community. 

She took a few years off of full-time teaching to focus on her family. When she returned to teaching, she taught part-time, where she enjoyed working with small group and individual reading instruction with her students until her retirement in 1995.

After both Dixie and Dean retired, they moved to Boone, where they lived for seven years before moving to Jefferson, where they were active members of the Augustana and Christ Lutheran Church communities.

Dean passed away in March of 2004 and Dixie later moved back to Paton and enjoyed volunteering at the library, going for walks with friends and gardening.

Baking was a passion for Dixie and she always kept her freezer full of breads, cookies and other treats to share with family and friends. 

In August of 2019, Dixie moved to Des Moines to be close to her children and grandchildren. She enjoyed the independent living at Wesley Acres, where she participated in church, exercise classes, the library, outdoor walking trail, ballroom dancing and an occasional happy hour that included her first margarita. 

Left to mourn her passing are her children and their spouses: Deb (Marty) Nugent, of Nevada; Danie Roper, of Paton; Joe (Cate) Mengel, of West Des Moines; Jeff (Becky) Mengel, of Elgin, Ill.; Diane (Jim) Allison, of Clive; Jed (Deb) Mengel, of Des Moines; and Jim (Bethany) Mengel, of Des Moines; 16 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Those who preceded her in death were her parents and her husband of 47 years, Dean. 

Graveside services will be held May 1 at the Paton Twp. Cemetery in Paton with the Rev. David Arulnathan officiating.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be directed to the Paton Library.

Brown Funeral Home is assisting the family.