George Allen Nixon

George Allen Nixon, age 80 of Commerce, Texas passed away peacefully in his home on May 26, 2017.  George was born November 7, 1936 in Rossland, British Columbia, Canada to Dorothy Tyson-Nixon and George Nixon, Jr. The eldest of three children, he attended grade school and high school in Rossland, graduating in 1955.  Furthering his education, he attended Notre Dame University in Nelson, BC for two years before completing his B.S. in Chemistry at Washington State University in 1961. Moving to Texas, he obtained his M.S. in Chemistry from East Texas State University in 1964 and concluded his studies at Louisiana State University for doctoral work.

Mr.Nixon began teaching at East Texas State University (now Texas A&M-Commerce) in 1961 as an instructor, moving up to assistant professor in 1974 where he held the position until his retirement in 2015.  Professor Nixon taught for over fifty years at Texas A&M-Commerce touching the minds of numerous students and professionals along the way.  His favorite course to teach was the capstone “The Essence of Winemaking”, team-taught with French professor and good friend Avery McClurg. He also enjoyed swimming and was the Water Safety Instructor Technician for Hunt, Rains and Delta Counties and taught numerous kids to swim and life guards how to save lives. He enjoyed numerous hobbies including: woodworking, gardening, wine and beer making, curling, ice-hockey, soccer, skiing, camping, swimming, travel and cooking.  He was very fascinated with bois ‘d arc wood and took great pride in crafting wooden spoons and cutting boards from the unique gold wood.

Professor Nixon was a very sociable man with a great smile who never met a stranger and always had a wealth of information and topics to converse about.  He loved his hometown of Rossland and would annually make the trip home to see his close friends and relatives.  He always put his family first and spent countless hours with his children, his greatest creations!

He is predeceased by his parents George (1904-1988) Dorothy (1910-1998) and his daughter Tully Snow Nixon (1974-1992).  He is survived by his brother Kent (Lynn) Nixon (Edmonds, WA) and sister Carol Nixon-Bilfeld (Trail, BC); children Tyson Nixon (Houston, TX), Noel Nixon (Spring,TX), Zak Nixon (Rossland, BC), Jon (Melanee) Nixon (Broken Bow, NE), Nik Nixon (Commerce, TX), Hunter Nixon (Houston, TX), Cheyenne Nixon (Celeste, TX), Max Nixon (Celeste, TX); grandchildren Payton, Kaleb, Lillian, and Katelyn. In addition, there are numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.

To The Father We All Knew,

The bluest eyes that I ever saw belonged to you.  The biggest heart with the most love was yours, too. The most happiness I have ever felt was with you; and now my eyes are blue, too because I miss you.  So now I carry your love and wisdom with me as I remember how happy we used to be.  May the slopes of heaven be smooth as you ski, and I thank you for all the love and all the things you taught me .

By Nik Nixon 5/27/2017