Fonds 93-00-00 - Russell A. Dixon fonds

The Honourable Justice Russell Armitage Dixon was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta, on November 14, 1924. His grandfather, John Dixon, settled in Maple Creek, North-West Territories in 1883, and his father was born there in 1885. Mr. Dixon joined the Canadian Army in 1943 and served with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion of the 6th British Airborne Division in Belgium, Holland, and Germany. After discharge from the army, he enrolled at the University of Alberta where he received a B.Sc. in 1948 and a LL.B. in 1951. Mr. Dixon originally enrolled at the University of British Columbia Law School but transferred to the University of Alberta prior to his third year. Upon graduation, Mr. Dixon articled with the Calgary firm Cairns & Howard. Mr. Dixon was admitted to the Alberta Bar on June 13, 1952 and named Q.C. on December 19, 1973. He was a senior partner in the Calgary firm of Howard, Dixon, and Mackie when he was appointed to the Bench in 1980. He served as a Bencher of the Law Society of Alberta from 1972-1980 acting on various Committees including Ethics, Finance, Education and Discipline and was President of the Law Society of Alberta at the time of his appointment in 1980. Additionally, Mr. Dixon was made an honourary life member of the Law Society of Saskatchewan in 1980. Many of Mr. Dixon's reported cases were in commercial and matrimonial law. In Goetjen v. Goetjen ([1981] 41 AR 269), a divorce case, the wife brought an action for matrimonial property in spite of an award for maintenance. Dixon held that the real property should be divided equally, but the two quarter sections of farmland should be divided sixty percent for the husband and forty percent for the wife. In Kaminsky v. Kaminsky ([1982] 48 AR 164), the wife sought an annulment for bigamy after ten years of marriage. Dixon awarded her $6000 under the Matrimonial Property Act. Mr. Dixon retired in 1999. He has also written a historical autobiography "The Hat, The Creek and The Hills", short articles for local newspapers, and poetry. Mr. Dixon married Sheila Stinson of Moose Jaw on September 1, 1951. The Dixons have three children, Howard, Christine, and Doug.