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Obits > 2019 - James Hixson

Submitted by Joan Johnson

James "Jim" HixsonFuneral services for James “Jim” Hixson, 69, of Silvis, IL, will be 10AM, Friday at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, Silvis. Visitation will be 4-7 PM Thursday, at Van Hoe Funeral Home, LTD, East Moline, IL, where a prayer service will be held at 3:30. Burial will be in Rock Island National Cemetery, where the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 299, will present Military Honors. Mr. Hixson died Saturday, January 19, 2019, at his home. Jim was born, the twin brother of Jody Marta Hixson, to Marvin Emery and Ellen Henrietta Olivier Hixson on September 4, 1949. His elder sisters were Donna and Janet. Growing up in Colona, Illinois while still a village of 300 people, Jim's early years were spent hunting, fishing, trapping, raising farm animals, training horses and working with his father in Hixson's Heating and Plumbing business. He married Jacqueline Guerrero on September 26, 1977, and renewed their vows in 2008 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, with Father Ray and Mr. and Mrs. Darrell Terronez as attendants. After graduation from UTHS Class of 1967, Jim enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1968. He served as a common soldier with the 2nd Ordnance/Field Maintenance Company 4th Marines through 1974 despite recommendation for medical retirement in 1971. Jim was a service-connected disabled Veteran, Lifetime Member of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 299, Lifetime Member of Disabled American Veterans and served as editor of the Chapter Newsletter, Shoulder To Shoulder and played live Taps as a Bugler with Bugles Across America. Jim worked at George Evans Corporation and John Deere as a welder and metal worker repairman for 17 years. He also worked at the Quad City Downs, Casino Rock Island and Rock Valley Industrial Therapy. In 1994 at age 45, Jim enrolled at Western Illinois, graduating summa cum laude in 1996. He taught in the Silvis/East Moline Elementary and Junior High School Districts from 1998-2003. In 2008 Jim was the recipient of his third Sioux Eagle Feather and acceded to elder status as a Lakota pipe carrier. Jim enjoyed his family and many friends, music, reading, gardening and lawn work and utilizing his home gym throughout the years. Those left to cherish his memory include his wife, Jackie; daughters, Andrea (Brian) Nehlsen, and Alissa Hixson; grandsons, Vincent, Sage, Oliver, and Archer; sisters, Janet Dailing and Jody (Chris) McClain; mother-in-law, Rufina Guerrero; brother-in-law, Earle McBride; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; his sister, Donna; brother-in-law, Bill Dailing; and father-in-law, Roy Guerrero. Charity begins at home. If you did not pay it forward while Jim yet lived, it will do him no good now (as per Jim). Memorials may be made to the family for his grandsons' education fund. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.vanhoe.com.

 

 

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SERVICES

Prayer Service

Thursday, January 24, 2019 
3:30 PM

 

Van Hoe Funeral Home 
1500 Sixth Street 
East Moline, Illinois 61244

 

Visitation

Thursday, January 24, 2019 
4:00 PM - 7:00 PM

 

Van Hoe Funeral Home 
1500 Sixth Street 
East Moline, Illinois 61244

 

Funeral Service

Friday, January 25, 2019 
10:00 AM

 

Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church 
800 17th Street 
Silvis, Illinois 61282

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