Billy Joe Dixon

Billy Joe “Bill” Dixon died September 14, 2024, at the age of 75. Bill was born in 1949 in Trieste, Italy, to the late Maria Francesca Dixon (Porto) and William Van Dixon. The marriage after the war between Bill’s Italian mother and his Kentucky father gave the world an “Italian Stallion” named Billy Joe. As the son of a soldier, Bill spent his youth in Italy, Alabama, Germany, Georgia, and Maryland, where Bill graduated from high school. A friend and a sense of adventure took Bill south where he attended and graduated from Georgia Southern College in 1971. Bill then received his Master of Education from Georgia State University in 1976. Bill continued his education at Georgia State University where he received his law degree in 1987. Bill completed law school at Georgia State through its night school program while working for the Clayton County Board of Education during the day. Bill’s tenure with the Board of Education started with him loading trucks and delivering textbooks and ended with Bill as the Board of Education’s Director of Maintenance.

Bill practiced law part-time for the first fifteen years of his legal career while continuing to work for the Board of Education, using his vacation time to defend criminal cases in the Atlanta metro area. Bill worked for the Clayton County District Attorney’s Office for sixteen years after leaving the Board of Education. Bill retired from the Clayton District Attorney’s Office in 2019. Bill served under four different district attorneys in his sixteen years and was affectionately known as “Uncle Bill” to some of the younger assistant district attorneys he mentored. Those who worked with Bill during his time at the District Attorney’s Office knew him to be a gentleman and a scholar. Bill was also an honorable and compassionate prosecutor who was respected by both sides of the Bar.

Bill was also known to have an aversion to socks. He was an exceptional cook, although the concept of proportions always seemed to escape him. Bill perfected his soup and sourdough bread in his retirement. He was also known to mix wine with beer, not so much for the taste, but simply out of convenience. Bill loved to read, loved to cook, loved spending time with his family and friends, and enjoyed every chance he had to travel to Trieste where he would spend time in the city of his childhood.

Bill was loved and adored by those who knew him. He will be sorely missed by everyone, and especially by those who knew him as Dad and Nonno. Bill is survived by his two children, Alison Gebhardt (Andrew) and Matthew Dixon (Kameela), and his four grandchildren, Drew, Will, Matthew, and Madison. Bill is also survived by his two sisters, Yvonne Warren of Annapolis, MD, and Diana Klutz (Bucky) of Gambrills, MD, his nephew, Billy Gallagher, his niece, Kristen Arnold, and five great nephews. Bill did not want a service nor an interment. If you would like to do something in Bill’s honor, be good to each other.