Dixie Ellen Smith, 62, of Sapulpa, passed away Tuesday, July 1 at her home in Sapulpa. Born on October 10th, 1945 in Chickasha, Oklahoma, she was the daughter of Charles F. Smith and Marguerite Orahood Smith Ivie. She was baptized at Epworth United Methodist Church in Chickasha. Her love of the Earth and nature came from her years growing up on a farm. She was a graduate of Chickasha High School in 1963 and received her B.S. Degree in Communications at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater in 1967.

In 1967 she married Forrest Ray Belcher and had two children, Morgan Forrest Belcher of Oklahoma City and Adrienne Amber Belcher Vivar of Sapulpa. That same year she and her husband volunteered to serve in the Peace Corp in Micronesia. Afterwards she and her husband lived in Denver and then Tulsa, finally residing in Sapulpa for the last 17 years.

Dixie loved the arts and was involved both in theatre and music. She worked for most of her professional career as a Social Worker. She started as a counselor in a half-way house in Denver, then worked for Department of Human Services, Sunshine Services, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Hillcrest, the Parent Child Center and Family and Children’s Services, all of Tulsa.

Dixie portrayed women in history with the Oklahoma Humanities Council starting in 1997. Her characters included Edna Ferber, May Lillie, Phoebe Pember and Kate Barnard. Kate Barnard was the first character she began researching in 1990. As a longtime social worker, she was eager to learn about the woman who brought programs for the disadvantaged to Oklahoma at statehood. After 30 years working as a social worker in Tulsa, Dixie earned her Masters Degree in Humanities from California State University and began teaching Speech, then American History at Tulsa Community College, West Campus. It was her dream to perform with Oklahoma Chautauqua. A dream finally realized last year when she was chosen to perform for the Oklahoma Centennial Chautauqua celebration.

Multi-talented as she was, she was also an actress, director and playwright. Dixie was involved in many community theatre productions, including productions of her plays. She was involved with the Open Door Theatre, Heller Theatre, Harweldon and Sapulpa Community Theatre. She originated the Theatre Manager position at Sapulpa Community Theatre, earning many grants for the organization and served on the Board for many years. She wrote several plays, most notably Marigolds and California Dreams and Dust Bowl Ballads. Marigolds was produced at Heller Theatre and was taken to the OCTAfest competition in 1993. California Dreams and Dust Bowl Ballads has been produced several times, first at the Open Door Theatre in the early 1980’s, then later in the 1990’s at Heller and in the 2000’s at Sapulpa Community Theatre. It was also taken to the OCTAfest competition in 2001.

In addition to playwriting, she was a published writer and story teller. She also loved puppetry, and performed with her puppets on many occasions. Puppetry and Social work combined when she became involved with “Kids on the Block”, a therapeutic program aimed at “at risk” youth. She was a wonderful mother, grandmother, wife, sister and friend. She will be dearly missed.

She was survived by her two children, Morgan Belcher and his wife Judy, Adrienne Belcher Vivar and her husband Mauricio, and two grandsons by Adrienne and Mauricio, Quinlan, age 7 and Aiden, age 5. She is also survived by her sister, Sheila Herald, of Corinth, TX, her brother, Richard Smith, of Yukon, OK, and many other friends and relatives. Memorial service will be held at First United Methodist Church in Tulsa at 2:00 P.M. on Monday, July 7th. Donations can be made to the American Cancer Society.

Dillon Funeral Home At Woodland Memorial Park, Sand Springs, Oklahoma.