‘She was larger than life, the life of the party’
Friends mourn death of Newmarket woman killed in car accident
Jenny Dixon was “larger than life” with a personality that can be summed up in many words: caring, kind and giving among them, but no word better describes the woman than “loving.”
“She was always there to make everyone feel better,” colleague and friend Terrilynne Young said. “She had a joke or a smile or just a big hug for anyone who was feeling down.”
Dixon died in a crash on Hwy. 404 near Aurora Rd., at about 2:30 a.m. on Friday after her vehicle was hit by a suspected drunk driver.
Dixon, a Newmarket mother of three, was on her way home from a late-night shift at Hill House Hospice, a palliative care home in Richmond Hill, when, OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said, the “violent” crash occurred, sending Dixon’s black Nissan into a ditch and leaving debris scattered all over the road.
Young fought back tears as she described their final words.
“I said ‘What are all those huge bags in your car?’ ” Young said. Dixon’s response was that they were her haul for a winter coat drive for Inn from the Cold, a Newmarket charity.
“She even told me that she had more at home,” Young said. “That’s just who she was, always working to help others. She took care of everyone.”
Police said Dixon was ejected from the vehicle despite wear- ing her seat belt and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The other driver, a 37-year-old woman, sustained minor injuries.
The community has rallied around Dixon’s family, raising more than $60,000 by Monday.
Those who work with her said many colleagues who could not sleep or process their feelings came into the hospice for support.
“Our job here is about helping people live until they die, but this … is so tragic,” said the hospice’s executive director, Anne- Marie Dean. “When someone comes in here, we know our relationship is going to end, but we never had that time with Jenny, which is just so devastating. Everyone is talking and crying and everyone knows they are safe and welcome here.”
Dean recalled a dying patient mentioning to nurses how she had a craving for cheesecake. Sure enough, it was Dixon who surprised her, going home and baking a cheesecake to make the patient happy, Dean said.
Young said while this story encapsulates Dixon, this is just one of the many things she would do each day for others.
“She was larger than life, the life of the party,” Young said. “She just lived to be a mom, her kids were her world, I can’t stop thinking of them, this is all so senseless. She took care of her husband, parents, parents-inlaw, grandmother, children, if someone wanted something, she did everything in her power to get it done. She loved palliative care, making a difference in the end (of someone’s life), preparing them for whatever comes next.”
Young added that looking at Dixon’s Fitbit made her colleagues laugh, wondering how a woman, who on the night she died had taken 9,000 steps, kept going.
“We could never figure out when she slept,” she added. “She never even sat down.”
Dr. Brian Berger said Dixon has one of the biggest hearts he’d ever experienced.
“There’s people in this world with a tremendous amount of compassion. She was one of these people,” he said.