South Gate Volunteer Gets Royal Treatment

It’s a wonder that Naomi Nixon stood still long enough to be crowned South Gate’s Azalea Queen this year.

She may be 70, but she is a tap-dancing, golf club-swinging human whirlwind.

Nixon rarely has an idle moment. She is a volunteer for the city’s recreation department. She dances at community shows, judges talent contests and works part time as a cashier at the South Gate golf course.

“I think I scare most men away because they don’t think they can keep up with me,” the spry divorcee said recently as she smacked a bucket of golf balls at the city’s driving range.

Nixon is a charmer with a big smile. But the Azalea Queen title is not awarded on looks or personality. Instead, it goes to the senior citizen who has shown the most civic pride through volunteer work.

The tradition of annually naming a senior citizen queen of the Azalea Festival dates to 1966. City leaders decided to bestow the title on a woman over 60 who devoted herself to improving the city.

Earlier this month, the City Council continued the tradition of honoring its older folks by voting to award a certificate of recognition to every resident who turns 90.

“They are the pioneers of South Gate,” said Mayor Henry Gonzalez, who proposed the motion.

Nixon was crowned in February by last year’s queen, Dorothy Dimmitt, 64. Dimmitt has one more queen-related appearance before she steps aside: She is scheduled to represent the city at a luncheon today hosted by the Los Angeles County Commission on Aging to recognize the 88 most outstanding senior citizens in the region.

Nixon doesn’t mind skipping that event. She has plenty to do. As queen, she must don her crown at every Chamber of Commerce mixer and preside over all ribbon-cutting events in the city. Nixon is also responsible for mailing birthday cards, holiday greetings and flowers to the 17 previous Azalea Queens who are still alive.

She didn’t grow up dreaming of being a pageant winner. Her dream, she said, was to run a dance studio, which she did for more than three years after graduating from junior college. She taught tap and ballet. She also danced at USO shows during World War II. But she gave up the studio because it was too difficult to teach while raising her two children, Mark and Jackie.

After selling her studio, Nixon took a job with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, where she worked for 28 years teaching dance and supervising boys and girls sports before retiring in 1990.

Nixon still dances. She is rehearsing for an upcoming community fund-raiser in Bellflower where she will perform the Charleston, the soft-shoe and the jitterbug. She also judges talent contests and beauty pageants.

And she still volunteers for the city whenever the need arises. The other day, Nixon chaperoned a city-sponsored bus trip to the San Diego Zoo for working-class families.

“My biggest problem is that I never say no,” she said with a smile.

Nixon said she has been too busy to spend much time working on her golf game. She learned to play years ago while working at the recreation department. She believes she is better at putting than driving, but she can still knock the ball pretty close to the green, she said.

“I think I started too old to be a good driver,” she said as she hit a ball high into the net at the driving range.

Her energy and zeal have surprised many of her friends.

“You would never guess she is 70 years old, because she is such an energetic lady,” said Gonzalez, who has known Nixon for nearly 30 years.

Nixon said that when her name was called to be this year’s Azalea Queen, she was stunned because she doesn’t feel 70.

“I didn’t think I was old enough,” she said.