A "Giant of the Law Profession" with State, National and International Influence.  He was a highly decorated officer in WW II, Civic, Church and Hospital Leader.

Elmore Dixie Beggs, Jr., was a Pensacola native born to E. Dixie Beggs, Sr., and the daughter of contractor/school board leader A. V. Clubbs. Dixie was educated in public schools, playing on the tennis team, and he was also a debater. At First Baptist Church he was a Sunday School leader and also played in a church band. Dixie graduated from the University of Florida, and also from the university's school of law. Again he was a student leader and a member of a successful interscholastic debating team. He also served in the ROTC.

Upon being admitted to the Florida Bar, Dixie joined his father in legal practice, then ran for and won the office of state attorney. Upon failure of his father's health, he succeeded to the school's roles in the Pensacola Rotary Club and on the board of directors of the First Bank & Trust Company, positions he would maintain for decades. Dixie's first marriage, to Sara Strickland, ended in her tragic death and that of their newborn child in 1941. The beginning of World War II occurred shortly thereafter, and Dixie promptly volunteered for active service. He entered the army with his ROTC commission and thereafter served brilliantly with the 88th Division in the Italian Campaign.

The war over, Dixie joined the law firm which had been started half a century before by W. A. Blount. His success was almost immediate, and shortly he remarried, Margaret Walker Ridley, a union which produced their son, Dixie, III, and daughter Caroline Cornelia. In this same period he began an active role in the creation of Baptist Hospital. In years that followed, he would become the hospital's president, and would provide the institution's legal work without charge.

Throughout his life Dixie Beggs was a dedicated member of First Baptist Church, serving as deacon, teacher, funds raising leader and spokesman. In activities related to his profession, Dixie Beggs was truly a man for all seasons. He held all major offices in the regional bar association. At the state level he was president of the Bar Association, served on numerous committees, and contributed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures. At the American Bar Association he was a three year member of the Board of Governors, and held half a dozen major committee chair assignments related to judicial conduct and ethics of the law. On one occasion he joined almost 100 leading legal figures in meetings in London and Paris with peers from European countries.

As a volunteer, and in client relationships, Dixie Beggs related to the establishment of the Santa Rosa Island Authority, the Pensacola Port Authority, the Hugh Fellows Memorial Fund for special education, the YMCA, the Community Chest and United Way, the Fiesta of Five Flags and even Mardi Gras organizations. Following his third marriage, to Leonora Risher, he continued in practice, leading the ongoing firm which by then had become Beggs & Lane to its appropriate level of prominence. In later years the Beggs traveled extensively, to major world points of interest.

At his passing, Dixie's legal peers recognized him as one of the giants of the profession in his time.