Turns out, the former longtime Salt Lake County recorder, who died Sunday at age 83, was reared by two Cache County Democrats and her only daughter, D'Arcy Dixon Pignanelli, grew up to be a Utah Democratic Party officer who married a former Democratic state legislator.

"We always called her the prodigal daughter," Dixon Pignanelli said Tuesday. "We kept thinking maybe she'd come home to the Democratic Party."

Katie Dixon never did. But her ability to bridge party lines and her penchant for pushing progressive policies, especially on women's issues, secured her reputation as a mover and a maverick.

"She had as many Democrats supporting her as independents and Republicans. She could reach across the aisle to bring people together," Dixon Pignanelli recalled. "Many of the issues she [pushed] weren't party issues - they were issues about family and life."

Dixon Pignanelli's husband, Frank Pignanelli, remembers meeting his future mother-in-law before a date with his future bride. He had pulled up in his orange VW bug, plastered with liberal bumper stickers, and received this greeting from Dixon: "So you're the Democrat who's taking out my Republican daughter."

Dixon's daughter married Pignanelli, who later became a state lawmaker and mayoral candidate, and defected to the Democrats.

Although Dixon had a passion for red (the color and the party), she campaigned for her blue-bent daughter and son-in-law whenever they sought office. She even suffered a dog bite while knocking on doors for her Democratic kin. The staunch Democratic homeowner joked that his dog smelled a Republican coming, said Dixon Pignanelli, now a state tax commissioner.

As county recorder from 1975 to 1995, Dixon demanded - and won - a day-care center for county employees at the Salt Lake County Government Center. She also introduced Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to the office.

"Politics didn't even exist between the two of us," longtime Democratic Councilman Jim Bradley said. "She was a wonderful, wonderful woman who not only brought a real sense of class to her position, but a real sense of class to everything she did."

A 20-year board member of the University of Utah's College of Social Work who also had three sons, Dixon championed women's education and safe, affordable child care. A room is named after her at Salt Lake Community College's Child Development Center. She encouraged women to take on leadership roles, helped launch the Utah Women's Forum and Assistance League of Salt Lake City and persuaded the Rotary Club to admit women.

"We could do things because Katie believed in us," said Marcia Price, a decades-old friend and former chairwoman of the Utah Arts Council. "If anyone received any kind of an accolade, an award, a promotion, Katie was the first one on the phone, writing a letter, giving the praise: 'You deserve it, you deserve it, you deserve it.' "

On Thursday, family and friends will get a chance to return the favor and sing Dixon's praises at an Alta Club celebration of her life.

rwinters@sltrib.com - JEREMIAH STETTLER contributed to this story.