I am Dixie Mo
I was born in N.W Missouri. My parents
moved to Illinois when I was 4 years old.
I went to school, and was raised in Quincy Ill.
I was married at very young age.
I had 4 children by the time I was 21. 
Ten years later Lori was born.  Most of
you know Lori for things she does here
on the room.  She is very   talented and
enjoys helping me. 
 
When I was younger I went to work for
Motorola for ten years. Later I was
divorced. I went to work in the  
sales business selling mobile homes. I   
bought a mobile home for me and  the
children. We lived in them   
for  a long time. I would sell mine and
get a new one every 4 years. My 
home  was set   up  next  to my  office    
so I did  not  have   to  leave   the   children.  
I   worked out of my   home    most of time. 
The  people I worked  for were in the automobile  
business   and  were  not  around much   
so I    began   to    run   the business   for 
them. I   became quite   good at   selling.   
I   did   well for me and the children. My  
bosses   traveled   a lot so   I continued  
to   run the   business.  I also   become   a
buyer   and had to   travel to many    mobile
home   companies    to    buy   homes. I   learned    
at the   time   just how they were built   and  
what   was used in   building. That helped
me in my sales being able to explain just
how    well they   were   built.   Know your
product to sell it.   

About   that   time I   took  
a   Dale  Carnegie  course and did   very  
well  - I  was  made  GA  next year.   That is
graduate assistant to help in    the next   course.
I    believe it   was    well worth doing. I 
learned   a  lot  and  still apply   much 
that I  learned. In Quincy I was also president
of the    American   Business Women.  I
belonged to Beta Sigma Phi and kept very
active in the business   world. I remarried
about that time-- not the best move I ever madeÉ.
    Then my husband  took a job in the restaurant  
business in Branson, Mo. So I left Quincy and  
came to the Ozarks of Mo. I was very surprised
to learn the jobs   available to   women  
then   were    either motel maids or waitresses.  
I did both for a while till I got my real-estate
license. I did   some motel management in   
Branson then  did  real-estate.
 While in   real-estate  the   broker I worked
for   bought   a trout ranch in Gainesville Mo.  
and  asked me if my husband   and I would  
run it for him.
   
We did for about 4 years.  It was a   
14  room motel and a mile  and a half   trout   
stream-  beautiful    place. People     came in to
fish   for    trout from all around. I learned how  
to      clean   them      from    7   am   till   
mid night   besides  waiting tables     
cleaning   rooms    and    keeping up       
laundry   for the motel. In my   spare    time I  
started   a   craft    shop    where I made    
every   thing I   sold.
  
Not the end of my   careers - We   
moved to   Springfield in   1990.  I  went   to   
work  a   reimbursement   secretary  for    
Burrell  Center, a mental health   facility   
working    closely with the department of Mental
Health in Missouri for  10  years.  It    was   
an experience too!  I    retired   from there,     
bought     a mobile home   and set it on my  
daughter's     30  acres out   side of Springfield.  
    
In 1996 while   still   working, I got in to   
chat,    starting in   Senior.com.  It   was    
valentine night  and I  thought  there must  
be other lonely   people.  Some   were  
looking  for Senior.com.  I  went   there    
and what  I    saw I loved--   people   were  
dancing and telling   jokes, laughing    and 
having   so much fun I   found  my self 
laughing  too.  So that   was my   welcome  
to chat and I went back again and again.
   
I went   to many  rooms   and saw     
some not  so   good. 7 years   ago I   
decided I   wanted   to  have   a   room     
for people  to enjoy.  I had looked  around..  
I knew   what I  didn't  want,   and   what I   
did,  so I   set out  to make it.  Some  
people  said I   was  too   strict. I wasn't,   
just what people said. I kind of   kept   
the  bad ones away. I  built my  room  
the   way I  wanted.  There have  been   
people try  to change it. They   think   they  
know   better   than I -- maybe  they   do but  
let them make their own  and  work it  
AS   HARD   AS I   HAVE.  I LOVE MY ROOM  
AND ALL THE PEOPLE IN IT.   AND I HOPE  
TO CONTINUE  TO MAKE PEOPLE HAPPY.  
THAT IS MY REWARD FOR THIS  ROOM--
MAKING   SENIORS HAPPY AND A  GOOD
PLACE TO COME   TO.
    
Thank you all  that have been with me and
every one that comes in.
Dixie