Barbara Dixon Tyson

Mrs. Barbara Dixon Tyson, 85, passed away Monday, October 26, 2020 at her home. The funeral service will be conducted Thursday at 1:30 PM in the Wilkerson Funeral Chapel, officiated by Rev. Walter Taylor. Burial will follow in Pinewood Memorial Park. The family will receive friends at the funeral home prior to the service from 11:30 until 1:15 PM. Barbara, a native of Greene County, was born on January 9, 1935 in the Coward-Dixon house in Hookerton, NC. She was a daughter of the late Edward Arthur Coward Dixon and Julia Warters Dixon. She was a 1957 graduate of East Carolina University, earning a degree in Elementary Education. In 1956 she married Ralph L. Tyson and they made their home in Greenville. She was employed by Pitt County Schools as a Third and Fourth Grade teacher at Belvoir Elementary for a number of years and then began teaching in the Greenville City Schools at Elmhurst Elementary, retiring after 30 years of service. She was a member of Alpha Delta Kappa Teachers Sorority and First Presbyterian Church. She had also attended Maranatha Free Will Baptist Church. Barbara had a great love of history and kept an active life related to family and area history. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Benjamin May Chapter, NC Society of Colonial Dames, Eleanor White Dare Chapter, First Families of North Carolina and the Jamestown Society. Through the years she held many officer positions in these groups. She was a historian who restored with her niece, Ann Vernelson, the Coward-Dixon House1850. Barbara was very proud that she was able to list the house on the National Register of Historic Places for family celebrations throughout the years. In addition to her parents Barbara was preceded in death by her brothers. Edward Earl Dixon, John Dixon, and Burwell Dixon and sisters, Pearl Jones and Carolyn Stout. She is survived by her husband of 64 years, Ralph L. Tyson; her daughter, Gwen Tyson Canada and husband, Kirby, of Zebulon; granddaughter, Kelsey Barnes and husband, Kenan, of Wendell; and great grandchildren, Timothy and Scarlett Barnes. The family would like to express their deep appreciation to the staff of Visiting Angels for their compassionate care for Mrs. Tyson, which allowed her to stay in her home.