Alma Pixley Dean, Called County’s Oldest Native, Dies at 101 : Obituary: Born in Orange in 1888, daughter of a prominent banker and businessman, the long-lived county resident dies in an El Toro board-and-care home.
EL TORO — Alma Pixley Dean, believed to be the oldest native of Orange County, died Tuesday morning in an El Toro board-and-care home. She was 101.
Because she was the oldest known county resident living at the time, her signature was placed on the new cornerstone of the renovated old Orange County Courthouse last November.
Mrs. Dean was born in Orange on July 6, 1888, when the unincorporated town was still part of Los Angeles County, city historian Phil Brigandi said.
“Her father, D.C. Pixley, was probably the most prominent businessman and banker in Orange at the turn of the century,†Brigandi said. Dewitt Clinton Pixley ran a general store and helped found the first bank, the First Christian Church of Orange and the defunct Orange News, he said.
Pixley Street in Orange is named after the family.
Mrs. Dean was one of the original students when Orange Union High School opened its doors in 1903 in a store in downtown Orange, Brigandi said. She went on to graduate from Stanford University, an unusual accomplishment for a woman at the time.
“My mother was always interested in education,†said her daughter, Virginia Arthur, 69, a resident of Dana Point. “It was important to have her two girls and her grandchildren go to college.â€
Her mother kept active until the end of her life, Arthur said. At age 101, she attended a reunion in June of five generations of the Pixley family. They gathered at the Big Bear cabin D.C. Pixley had built in 1914.
“The family reunion was a great tribute to my parents,†Arthur said. Her mother “had a great feeling of family continuity.â€
“My mother was proud of her family heritage,†Arthur said. “Her parents were prominent, but she never considered that a big deal. She had a lot of family pride and she imparted that to all of us, the cohesiveness and the loyalty.â€
Her mother could recite every family member’s birthday, Arthur said. “This was children, great grandchildren and all their spouses,†she said.
The day after the reunion, Mrs. Dean’s husband, Argus, died from heart problems at age 98. They were married in 1917 in Illinois, where the two met.
“Once Argus passed away, Alma just faded away after that,†said Brigandi, who knew Mrs. Dean for several years because of their mutual interest in city history.
Mrs. Dean was the last of her generation of the Pixley family, he said. Her two brothers and two sisters, several of whom lived in Orange, have all died, he said.
The three-story family house where the Pixley children grew up is still standing on the corner of Palm and Olive streets in Orange, Brigandi said. Her father’s general store remains standing, also, but the facade has been altered, he said.
D.C. Pixley was a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors for one term in 1900. During his term, the old Orange County Courthouse was built and Pixley’s signature was in the cornerstone that was removed last November.
Mrs. Dean died of natural causes at the Regency Hearthside Home. A memorial service will be held for her at 2 p.m. Nov. 5 at Shannon-Donegan Mortuary in Orange.
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