Olive Dixon Hollis

View Funeral Webvcast Lavara Olive Dixon Hollis, 95, resident of Walnut Lane in Columbia, died Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at Manchester Medical Center. She had made her home in Manchester recently to be near family. Funeral services will be conducted Friday at 10:00 a.m. at Oakes & Nichols in Columbia with David Morris officiating. Burial will follow in Polk Memorial Gardens. The family will visit with friends Thursday from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the funeral home. Notes of sympathy may be sent to oakesandnichols.com. Born and reared in the West Point Community in Lawrence County, she was the daughter of the late Virgil Taylor Dixon and Nannie Belle Olive Dixon and a 1934 graduate of Loretto High School. She met William Joseph "Bill" Hollis in the summer of 1934 and they married October 2, 1937. Their fifty-two year marriage ended with his death April 13, 1990. Mrs. Hollis was a long-time, faithful member of Highland Church of Christ. As a homemaker her interests included crocheting, knitting, cooking, and visiting with her friends and family. She worked for a number of years compiling information on her family and writing about her life growing up in the early 1900's. She published her autobiography, MY STORY, in July 2010 which was ten years and a lot of love in the making. Survivors include her sons, William Michael "Mike" (Sherri Wilhelm) Hollis of Manchester and Joseph Dixon "Joe" Hollis of Satellite Beach, Florida; sister, Alma Dixon (Allen) Mayfield of West Point, Tennessee; grandchildren, Natalie Hollis and Emily Hollis of Manchester, Michelle Hollis (Ken) Keller of Tullahoma, Jeff (Ashley) Hollis of Gallatin, and Greg (Becca) Hollis of Nashville; great-grandchildren, Kelsey Keller, Darin Keller, Luke Keller, Evie Hollis, Annabelle Hollis, and Georgia Goodwin Hollis. She was preceded in death by sisters, Mary Dixon Phillips and Thelma Dixon Franklin; and brother, Rayford Dixon. Active pallbearers are Jeff Hollis, Greg Hollis, Ken Keller, Gene Franklin, Larry McMurtry, and Keith McMurtry. Elders and Deacons of Highland Church of Christ will serve as honorary pallbearers.