Dixie
Cooney was a sweet, young, innocent girl from a small town called Pigeon Hollow
in West Virginia. She was very close to her brother Will. They came to
Pine Valley in 1988 to see with their Uncle Pete Cooney, whom they didn't really
know, along with their younger sister, Lanie.
Pete Cooney is known in PV as the wealthy Palmer Cortlandt. At first Dixie did not tell Palmer who she really was, and she worked as his maid. As soon as he learned who she was, he would not let her work as his maid any more.
Palmer has a long history of trying to control the women in his family, including his sisters, daughter, and wives. It usually didn't work, and the same was the case with Dixie. Even though Palmer did not like that his sister Bess married "Seabone" Hunkle, he welcomed her children into his home.
Even though Dixie was sweet, she always had a very strong
character and stood up to people who tried to run her life, such as Palmer,
Will, Adam, David, and even Tad. Dixie became a nanny for wealthy and powerful Adam
Chandler's step-daughter Laura when he was married to Brooke. Adam seduced
Dixie because he wanted an heir and believed that Brooke couldn't have children.
Dixie fell for his lies. Brooke hired Tad to find out who the father of
Dixie's baby was; Dixie and Tad became friends. Brooke divorced Adam, and
Adam married Dixie. Adam tried to drive Dixie crazy and had her committed
to a mental institution so that he could take young Adam, jr. away from her.
Tad figured out his plan and rescued Dixie from the institution. Dixie
divorced Adam and married Tad, her true love.
Many things came between Tad and Dixie over the years, including their relatives wanting to break them apart. Tad was missing and presumed dead for a while. They divorced and remarried a few times, and each had affairs with other people. Although Dixie was a very sweet and honest person, she somehow fell under the spell of Dr. David Hayward when she had an affair with him. She was a wife and mother, so this seemed somewhat out of character for Dixie.
In the meantime, Tad had a child with Brooke (Jamie), so Tad and Dixie raised Jamie and J.R. as brothers. For a time, Dixie went back to live in Pigeon Hollow, taking the boys with her, where she became a teacher. In 2002, Dixie fled town to have a baby. Tad did not want her to have the baby because she was risking her life due to some heart problems. She had a car accident and was presumed dead. It was recently learned in 2005 that Dixie survived the crash but the baby didn't. Dixie has returned to town and people are beginning to learn she is alive.
Dixie's brother Will seemed to be just a nice young guy, but a
bit of a trouble maker, when he first came on the show. He later turned
really bad and became a rapist. He was murdered by Janet Dillon. Lanie was
a concert pianist and went to Europe with her husband, never to be heard from
much again. Dixie learned that she had some half-brothers and half-sisters
because her father Seabone had a whole other family on the other side of the
mountain, in Crow Hollow. She met her half-brother Del Hunkle. She
even gave Del a kidney at one point. Recently we learned that she also had a
half-sister named Di Henry. Di was raised by another family and not the
Hunkles. She had a shady past, including spending time in jail. She
knew that Dixie was alive but was sworn to secrecy. She decided
to come to
Pine Valley and pretend that she was really Dixie after having plastic surgery.
Eventually, she was found out, but she formed a bond with Tad.
After all of the tragedy in Dixie's life, she is still sweet, but she seems to have a harder edge to her that was not there before. Everyone in town talks about her as if she were a saint, but we know they will be disappointed when they learn she has been faking her death. Her sons are grown. Dixie will have to fight for her family's love and to get Tad back, if she wants her life in Pine Valley back.
