Dixie Lee Michaelsen Pedersen Pedersen

Young Dixie

Dixie Lee, born 11 Oct 1934 in Black Hawk County, Iowa, was born to Rasmus Theodore "Ted" Michaelsen and Verlie Smith. Her parents had a challenging relationship and the four children of their marriage would all end up in the Bremer Lutheran Orphanage in Waverly, Iowa and be adopted out to various family members and a Lutheran couple.

Dixie was an adorable, free-spirit who was adopted along with her sister Janis by Axel and Dagmar (Michaelsen) Pedersen,her paternal aunt and uncle. They were raised in Hurley, Mississippi. Like her sister, Janis, Dixie was also involved in 4-H and won three blue ribbons at the 1950 Jackson County Fair and won a number of other ribbons over the years of her participation ranging from her vegetables to her sewing.

In 1952, she met Corporal Flemming Jessen Pedersen of the Danish Air Force, who was undergoing training at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi. Dixie's Michaelsen side of the family were from Denmark. When the couple married 23 Nov 1952 in Biloxi. Their wedding "blended traditions of the old and the new countries." It was described as "particularly colorful" in the newspaper.  Her sister Janis was Dixie's attendant and Corporal Kaj-Erick Andreassen of the Belgian Air Force was best man.

Dixie

After their marriage, they moved to Copenhagen where their first child, daughter Ivy Ann, was born on 03 Sep 1953. In mid-1955, the couple came to the US and stayed with sister Janis and her husband in Mississippi. Their young son, Flemming Dale, born 26 Dec 1954, died while sleeping in its carrier at the Ladnier's. The autopsy confirmed that the child had an undiagnosed heart defect.

Flemming worked at NASA at Cape Canaveral in the 1960s and the family lived in Florida. While living in Florida, Dixie taught dance classes.Two more children came along: Leif David, born 16 Dec 1960 who was born in Lake Worth, Palm Beach, Florida and Eric. Leif would die 15 Mar 2004 in Pascagoula. Ivy Ann died 25 Sep 2012 in Melbourne, Florida.

They eventually moved back to Pascagoula, and Flemming worked at the shipyards where LeVerne worked near Moss Point. Dixie was a life member of the Pascagoula Elks Lodge #1120 Ladies Auxiliary. She served two terms as President and was selected Officer of the Year twice. She died at the age of 75 on 09 Jan 2010 in Moss Point. Her husband Flemming died 23 Sep 2014 in Melbourne, Florida.

Remembering Janis Michaelsen Pedersen Ladnier

Janis Ladnier

JACOB SMITH > WILLIAM CUSTER SMITH > EDWIN SMITH > VERLIE SMITH m Ted Michaelsen > JANIS PEDERSEN

Janis was born on 12 Aug 1929 in Nashua, Chickasaw County, Iowa to Theodore Michaelsen and Verlie Smith. At the time, her parents lived over the butcher shop in a small apartment.

This is a bit of a convoluted tale, but follow along. I mentioned that my grandmother Verlie's first marriage was stricken with violence and poverty. Their children were placed in the Bremer Lutheran Orphanage in Waverly during the depression. Family members from both sides moved to place the kids in the family, but it did take some time. Janis recalled that they were there for over two years. She also said, "They wanted me to be placed because they felt I was becoming institutionalized - I liked it too much there."

The oldest child, Harold, was first sent to Verlie's brother Claude and his wife Lucille. It wasn't a good match at all and he ended up being adopted by Verlie's sister Evelyn and her husband Marvin. The "baby," Judy Lou, was adopted outside of the family to a Lutheran couple. While she would maintain contact with her siblings in her lifetime, she did not seem to maintain any contact with her biological parents.

Janis and Dixie ended up being adopted by Ted's sister and brother-in-law Axel and Dagmar (Michaelsen)  Pedersen. According to Janis, they had wanted to adopt only Dixie because Janis was by now too old, but further discussions led to her going with her sister. Janis and Dixie were raised in Hurley, Mississippi.

LeVerne Ladnier

The girls would be raised there in a loving home, but the family in Iowa did not see them frequently. She settled in down in Mississippi and was active in 4H. In 1946, she was the high scoring participant in the 4-H contingent at the South Mississippi Livestock Show in Hattiesburg.

She married Leverne Jacob Ladnier and they would have three children. They resided in Moss Point. Laverne was a World War II veteran who served as a Radarman 2nd Class aboard the USS Latimer. After his service he worked in the shipyards in Moss Point starting as an electronics technician and moving into engineering. He also repaired small electronics on the side.

Janis completed her Registered Nursing degree at Charity Hospital in New Orleans. She worked for

the Jackson County Hospital for four years. She also worked in the offices of Drs McDonough and Minkler. She was vice president and president of the Mental Health Association of Jackson County in the 1980s.

Janis was deeply involved in her community. She was a member of the Granley Danish Society and

A Young Janis

was a volunteer for the American Red Cross Blood Bank and Our Daily Bread. She taught expectant parents class at Singing River Hospital and also was active with helping at Singing River Mental Health Association. She taught Sunday School at the Christ Lutheran Church in Pascagoula for many years. She was also a Youth Court volunteer for four years. She recalled that her house was often the site of post-athletics gatherings and was a member of the Moss Point High School Band Parents Association. She was a former Boys Scout assistant den leader, president of a local crafts club, and was past president of an extension homemakers organization.

I had memories of Janis and Dixie's visits when I was a kid, but then I left home at 17 and didn't return for 35 years. I picked up the phone when I started this family genealogy project and talked to Janis. We spent the next two years talking on the phone, exchanging letters, and photos, and having a great time together. Her storytelling was excellent, as was her memory. She had been struggling with some health issues following a car accident a few years ago, but was still living on her own. She liked to reminisce and was proud of the fact that she and Harold had somehow managed to look out for the younger kids and each other during those troubling times at the beginning of their lives. I found one story particularly sweet:

"Buying each other gifts was difficult, because we had nothing. One day, Harold found an old cedar chest with a leg missing. He made a spindle leg and attached it and gave it to me for Christmas." Janis recalled also that their aunt Margaret would sometimes give them money. Janis saved hers up so she could buy a gift for her siblings, "I bought a scented soap bar for Harold, Judy, and Dixie at a cost of five center per bar that Christmas."

In 2015, her son Chris died suddenly. The heart seemed to go out of her after that. The family in Iowa got a call that Janis had a fall in her home and had died after surgery on 25 Feb 2016 in Jackson, Mississippi.

I feel incredibly grateful that we had the time we had together. She was quite a woman. I miss her still.