Eunice L. Nixon
is honored with a Brick from Marti Levy, Sally Winfrey, Kip Nixon and Bill Nixon
Surrounded and nurtured by her loving family, Eunice grew up observing the wheat farming and cattle raising operations on the farm while playing in the family vineyards and apple orchards and performing her childhood chores. She also watched the workings of the many entrepreneurial business ventures that were pursued by her grandfather, Henry Schweiter. As part of her Schweiter heritage, Eunice inherited a deep sense of pride at being a Wichita native, balanced by the strong foundation of Swiss and German values carried by Henry Schweiter and Caroline Gardiner on their journeys as immigrants across the Atlantic and later passed on to their children and grandchildren.
Eunice went to grade school at Linwood Elementary School and later attended East High School, graduating in the Class of 1933. She enrolled at The University of Wichita where she graduated in 1936 with a Liberal Arts degree in Home Economics.
On September 16th, 1939 Eunice married her sweetheart, Bill A. Nixon, whom she had met while both were teachers at Isabel, Kansas. Bill began work in Washington D.C. where they made a home and had their first child, Sally. In 1944 Bill was accepted into KU Med School via the U.S. Army and they moved to Kansas City. During this period their second daughter, Marti, was born. After Bill completed Med School and his Army assignment, Eunice and Bill moved to Macksville, Kansas in 1948 where Bill established his private medical practice and, at the same time, their family grew to include their first son, Kip. Then in 1955, they moved again… this time to Philadelphia where Bill entered grad school at the University of Pennsylvania. And, of course, with their new home came another arrival, their second son, Bill.
Finally in 1959 Eunice returned with her husband to Wichita where Dr. Nixon established his surgical practice and the Nixon family settled into their home in the Schweiter addition at Lincoln and Hillside. It was there, back on the same land on which she herself had been raised, that Eunice and Bill completed the business of raising their own family and it is there that they still reside to this day.
Eunice and Dr. Nixon celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary in1989 amidst their four children, extended family and many, many friends. She enjoys her four grandchildren and (to date) six great-grandchildren. Eunice is an active member of Normandy Women Republicans and attends Epworth United Methodist Church.
Family and friends of Eunice all agree that she is both a delight and an inspiration. Memories of her youth fill her conversations with gems of insight into Wichita's rich history, yet she is ever interested in the ongoing woven tapestry of stories belonging to each individual she meets. In everything she does, Eunice continues to reflect values of honest living and hard work to her family and all who know her. She is uncomplicated and very strong and, above all, she is dearly loved by all her family. She is a very special lady.
Honored by her children:
Sally Winfrey, Marti Levy, Kip Nixon and Bill Nixon
