Evelyn Oak: a student nurse in Birmingham, a 4-H leader in Danville

Evelyn Dixon was probably a student nurse in Birmingham, Alabama, at seventeen, and by the 1960s she was a 4-H leader in Danville, New Hampshire.

Birmingham and Michigan

On August 7, 1932, the Birmingham News announced that Louis Gordon Dixon had named his new daughter Evelyn and that mother and baby were doing well. The notice, which is probably hers, said the baby had been born "a week ago."

By 1940 the Dixon family, Evelyn probably among them, was living in the St. Clair Shores area of Michigan.

A 1950 census entry, probably hers, places Evelyn back in Birmingham, aged seventeen, at the Baptist Hospital nurses' home, with "Student Nurse" entered as her occupation. It does not show whether she finished her training or worked as a nurse afterward.

Marriage, 1952, and the move to New Hampshire

A marriage-license list published in Biloxi in July 1952 named an Evelyn Dixon and Ivan Oak, probably this couple. The license does not say when or where they married. In December 1953, Evelyn Oak, listed as married, sailed from Seward, Alaska, to Seattle, giving Skowhegan, Maine, as her destination. Her husband was then serving with Battery B, 274th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, in Alaska (see her husband's account). Her grandson's account is that Evelyn was in Alaska with her husband while he was stationed there with the Army, and that they were on their way to his home in Maine.

By late 1959, local notes place Evelyn and Ivan in South Danville, New Hampshire. The family account is that they bought a home in Danville and raised four children there. In November 1966, the Portsmouth Herald named "Mrs. Ivan Oak, Danville" among the 4-H leaders recognized for five years of leadership. In December 1971, she appeared among the gift-drawing winners at a Hawke Historical Society Yule meeting.

Evelyn died in 1997, according to her memorial and Social Security Death Index records.

What her family remembers

Her grandson remembers Evelyn as a woman who kept a horse and made pottery from molds, the kind of ceramics poured and painted at home. She collected bargains from yard sales and antique shops. She loved Native American art and jewelry. In retirement she and her husband traveled the country, first in a pickup-truck camper and later in a motorhome.

About the evidence

The birth announcement and census entries are Likely identifications. The Alaska posting, the trip to Maine, the Danville home, the four children and her pastimes come from her grandson's account. The linked account of her husband includes the related marriage and travel material.

Sources

• Birmingham News, August 7, 1932, birth announcement.
• 1940 U.S. census, Lake Township (St. Clair Shores), Macomb County, Michigan, enumeration district 50-24.
• 1950 U.S. census, Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama, enumeration district 68-199, line 23.
• Daily Herald (Biloxi, Mississippi), July 11, 1952, page 14, marriage-license list, quoted and shown on her husband's account.
• List of In-Bound Passengers, U.S.N.S. Thomas Jefferson, Seward to Seattle, arrival December 22, 1953 (Ancestry, Washington passenger and crew lists), summarized on her husband's account.
• Morning Sentinel (Waterville, Maine), December 30, 1959, page 12, Skowhegan personal notes, cited on her husband's account.
• Portsmouth Herald, November 15, 1966, cited on her husband's account.
• Exeter News-Letter, December 23, 1971, page 12.
• Find a Grave memorial and Social Security Death Index records for Evelyn Dixon Oak.
• Family account given by her grandson, 6 October 2026 (Alaska, Maine, Danville, four children, horse, pottery, collecting, Native American art, travel by camper and motorhome).