Dixon Family

Florence Worden Dixon Leach was born in Missoula, Montana, on 20 March 1899 to Joseph Moore Dixon and Caroline Melissa Worden. Florence was the second daughter of six. Joseph Dixon was an attorney who became active in politics and he served in the U.S. House and then Senate from 1903 to 1913. During those years, the Dixons lived in Washington, D.C., but travelled back to Missoula frequently. Florence graduated from Missoula County High School in 1916, and attended the University of Montana from 1916 to 1920. During her time at the university she was a member of the Beta Phi Chapter of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, served as president of the Women's Self Government Association, and was vice-president of the Associated Students of the University of Montana (ASUM). Following graduation, Florence studied bacteriology at Johns Hopkins.

While at Hopkins, Florence met Charles Nelson Leach (1884 - 1971), a Vermont physician and World War I veteran. They were married in Hong Kong on September 22, 1922, and spent the next few years in Manila where he was engaged in public health work. Later assignments took them to Montgomery, Alabama, New York, Prague, Vienna, Peking, London, and Paris. Ultimately they retired to Newfane, Vermont. Charles and Florence Leach had three children, Carolyn, Nancy, and Charles. Florence Leach died in 1991.

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