Dixie L. (Quick) Tinsley

Dixie Lee (Quick) Tinsley, 84, Rock Island, IL passed away on Monday, June 27, 2022 at St. Anthony’s Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Rock Island, IL under the care of Hospice. There will be​ a​ visitation from ​11:00 to 12:00 on Friday, with a celebration of life service following at ​12:00 noon at Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory, Rock Island. Burial at the Rock Island National Cemetery. The family encourages guests to wear masks.

She was born on April 16, 1938 to Roy and Flora (Taylor) Quick in Rock Island.  

​She was a Charter Member of Olivet Missionary Baptist Church.  She was united in marriage to Reverl Williams and later to Ervin C​hamp Tinsley in Galesburg, IL. The couple made their home in ​Rock Island, IL and remained married until his passing in 1969. 

Dixie worked as a secretary at the Rock Island Arsenal for over 25 years. She was​ instrumental, along with her brother Rudolph Quick Sr. and sister Elizabeth Quick, in bringing​ ​the Esquire Lodge #1648 and Elite Temple #1265 of I.B.P.O.E. of W to Rock Island and served as its first Daughter Ruler​. ​​ She​ was an avid bowler in the Quad Cities, earning many accolades​.  ​She also ran for Miss Rock Island County in 1954 (which was rare at that time).​ After her retirement, she helped people learn to read through a Black Hawk College program.  Dixie enjoyed watching ‘cop shows,’ working word games and crossword puzzles, answering trivia questions, and listening to The Temptations.  She was a member of the ACTIVE Club at MLK Center, helped with keeping score at QC Senior Olympics, and faithfully and generously donated to various charities.  She looked so forward to assembling and distributing over 500 bags for trick or treaters every year for over 50 years.  She loved to joke and have fun and would say “Hello somebody” all the time.”  

She is survived by her children, Kandy L. (Wade Jr.) Branch of Brooklyn Park, MN; Dena R. (Darrick​ Newby​) Williams-Newby of Rock Island; Kristia L. Tinsley-LeShoure of Rock Island; and stepson, Duane Tinsley of East Moline; grandchildren, Tenisha Williams, Erika Lyn Williams, Jason Williams, Shanaya Dungey, Bianca Branch, Jena Holliday, Wade Branch III, Jeremiah Branch, Dillon Newby, Loryn Branch​; 19 great grandchildren (with another one on the way); 4 great great grandchildren; several nieces and nephews, including special nieces Mary Harvard and Mamie Williamson; and a host of cousins, family and friends​.  

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, ​Champ; ​brothers, Rudolph, Adolph, Roy, and Ronald Quick, Donald Pride, ​and William “Bill” Allbritton; and Sisters, ​Mamie ​(​​Quick) ​Miller​ and Elizabeth Quick​.  She was also preceded in death by Martin Jackson and special friend, Mrs. Lee Barber.

One of Mom’s favorites quotes was “What you keep for yourself, you lose, but what you give away you keep.”

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Dixie L. (Quick) Tinsley, please visit our floral store.