Janet Sue Wixson, reader, gardener, flower arranger, fabric artist, lay psychologist, avid hiker and camper, lover of the outdoors and animals, world traveler,and a pioneer as a woman in IT executive management, died on April 28, 2021 after successfully fighting ovarian cancer for more than three years – she said it was her miracle. A 4th of July baby who said she came out with a bang was preceded in death by her parents, H.C. Jerry Jerome and Ruby Cook of Shell Knob, MO, by her son Steven Michael Wixson, and is survived by her husband, Steven Earl Wixson, daughter Laura Hanson Chatham (Scott), grandchildren, Alfred Francis AJ Hanson (Gabby), Abigail Jerome Hanson, all of Chattanooga, TN, and a cadre of dear friends among whom Linda Flaherty-Goldsmith qualified as soul sister.
Her education included the remarkable Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, OK, two years at the University of Arkansas majoring in mathematics and becoming a yearbook beauty, finishing her degree at the University of Nebraska, and continuing with graduate studies in mathematics and computer science.
Her expectation was to be a wife and mother, however, as her children entered schools, she started working at the University of Alabama in Birmingham’s Rust Computer Center as a user consultant and eventually its Director. Her first big deal meeting with the university Deans had one Dean pounding on the desk saying, “No offense Janet, but we need a man for this job.” She replied, “I am willing to do almost anything to fix the problems in the computer center, but a sex change operation is out of the question.” Her career soared. She became Director of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Center of Excellence For Computer Applications until retirement. She was featured in a PBS documentary on Women in Computing. She noted, “Women in technical fields are assumed to be incompetent until proven competent while men are assumed to be competent until proven incompetent.”
She said ‘’My grave marker should read ‘Here lies Janet – she didn’t miss much!” You could best
remember her by donating to your favorite animal charity and enjoying your life to the
fullest extent possible.