Community Corner

A Musician's Sense of Humor Leaves His Mark in Greendale

Tim Dixon, of Greendale, passed away from a second brain tumor that was caused by radiation treatment. Today his parents advocate for brain cancer research.

Tim Dixon was a quiet man with a sense humor that would surprise people with a “zinger”, his parents explained as they remembered their son who passed away from a brain tumor in May 2004.

After a few strokes Tim’s speech therapist advised him to keep a journal. Dave Dixon, Tim’s father, was laughing and tearing up at the same time as he explained Tim’s written account of their road trip in a motor home to Florida.

“We took him to Florida in a motor home,” Dave Dixon said. “We had some twin beds in the back to rest. He wrote in the journal about how I got up early and wrote ‘Dad drove like a mad man to get there.’”

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For most of his life Tim was a musician. He graduated from Greendale High School in 1977 and went on to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he majored in music. To pay for his college Tim would come home to Greendale in the weekends and teach music. 

In 1985 Tim moved to Nashville where he played professionally in a few bands. Tim primarily played the saxophone, wrote and arranged music for his bands.

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Tim’s mother Dee Dixon said when people would ask him what kind of music he liked he would respond, “Any kind that pays.”

The first tumor was discovered in Tim’s frontal lobe in 1989 while he was living in Nashville. He went through radiation and came out just fine until 1997 when it came back. Between 1997 and 2001 Tim went through surgeries and gamma bytes.

In 2001 Tim’s doctors suggested he move back home with his parents in Greendale since he didn’t live with anyone in Nashville.

Dave and Dee said it was hard on Tim to move back home and loose his independence. He had his own house and friends in Nashville but it became too hard for him physically to live alone.

He had many friends in Nashville but none who lived close by. One day he did not show up to work. His boss called his friends who came to his house and found that he had a seizure.

Tim passed away in 2004 from treatment complications. The first tumor was not the cause of his death; it was the second tumor that resulted from radiation treatment.

Tim spent his last few years taking road trips with his parents and visiting his siblings. Many of his childhood friends visited him at one point or another.

“It was wonderful,” Dee Dixon said. “As busy as they were they would take the time to do things with him, like take him to the movies.”

Dee Dixon has many fond memories of her son.

“When you think back, it's hard to loose a child, but would you rather not have that pain of loosing a child than never having them in your life,” she said.

Dave and Dee Dixon are big advocates of brain cancer research. They attribute part of his death to the lack of sophisticated treatments during those years.

Dee Dixon has been one of the organizers for the annual Community Walk, which will take place this Saturday. For the third year in row the walk will help promote brain cancer research in partnership with the American Brain Tumor Association. 


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