DIXON, John Wilburn

The Prescott Courier, Prescott, Arizona Wednesday, May 2, 2018, page 6a John Wilburn Dixon was born in Cleburne, Texas, on July 12, 1923. The Army sent him to the University of California-Berkeley to earn his A.B. in Far East Studies. In November 1943, John was inducted into the Office of Strategic Services. In June 1945, with another agent, John set up an operational base in Japanese occupied territory in South China. Upon returning to the U.S., he received the Bronze Star Medal for Heroic or Meritorious Achievement and was discharged from OSS and the Army. In 1946, he married Nancy Burnham Eddy. In 1949, he received his LLB from the University of Texas- Austin. In January 1951, John joined the Central Intelligence Agency. He was posted to the U.S. Embassy in Manila; served as the acting Deputy Chief of Station at the Consulate in Hong Kong; was the Chief of Foreign Intelligence Operations in Taipei, Taiwan; and served as a Reserve Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Togo, West Africa. From 1962-1966, he worked in NYC with the FBI against counter-espionage targets. Following his divorce from Nancy, he married Thérèse Micheline Picavet in 1966. From 1967-1970, he was stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Bonn, Germany. He returned to CIA headquarters in Washington, D.C., and was awarded CIA’s Bronze Retirement Medallion for Honorable Service in 1973. John then practiced criminal law, civil law and estate planning. After Thérèse passed away in 1986, he met and married Roberta Anne O’Dwyer in 1987; they divorced in 1998. After living in Prescott, Arizona, from 2000-2013, John moved to Washington to be near family. He passed away on March 19, 2018. He was predeceased by his son Robert and is survived by his children David, Susan, Natasha and Danielle, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Information provided by survivors.