I, Me, My

 So... I've been intending to write my own set of "memoirs" for a long time now, but just have not got around to it. Seems like if I'm gonna finish it before I get too old to remember my memories, I might ought to make myself get started. If I start it here on the blog, maybe I'll feel obligated to come up with some little tidbit every day... maybe. (At the risk of losing my whole audience, because, really, my life is not that interesting.) 

Well, I'll just start and see how it goes. If I get far enough, I plan to make another book which will include 4 generations of memoirs.

My great-grandmother wrote her memoirs "A Bit of Family History" in 1957. My grandmother wrote "I Remember Of..." (my title) starting in 1999. My mother wrote "My Stories Growing Up" and other memories and musings starting in about 2003 when she retired, although she had written some other things through the years. That's three generations before me, so I suppose that makes it my turn. I'm 70 years old now, so I guess I'd better get started. 

PHOTO: Annie Arnold Hicks, Cleffie Hicks Burford, Wathada Burford Thomas, Dianne Thomas 1967

[Just a little FYI - I was always called by my middle name (Dianne) in the family. No one ever called me by my first name until I went to college (long story). So just be aware that I will use the name Dianne in my blog posts.]

This is the first picture of me. It is in my baby book, pinned with straight pins. I was 11 days old -- it seems to be an unwritten rule in our family that a baby has to have its picture taken at age 11 days. I don't know who started it, or why. Maybe it started as a coincidence. But my great grandmother (Annie Hicks, above) took pictures of most of her 10 babies at that age, and so did my grandmother (Cleffie Hicks Burford, above)... so ... 

PHOTO: I have three baby books. One of them was originally used for my dad (Richard Thomas). My mother added my information and my brother's (Rick) to this book. In this photo, my dad's birth information is at the top, then Rick's, and mine at the bottom of the page.

Buffering...

Give me a few days to re-group...

Hicks Family Reunions

Just before we leave the Hicks family ancestry, here are some pictures of reunions that took place in 1976 and 1988.

1976 Bessie, Jack and his wife Floy

1976 Odelcie and her husband Everett Williams

1976 Seated - Rosie (left), Cleffie and Lester. Standing - Joann Wheetley, Odelcie.

1976 Ruby, Viola, Irene, Cleffie

1976 Wayne and Joann Wheetley family (Bess' son)

1976 Jack, Odice, Rosie, Ruby, Cleffie, Bess, Odelcie, Viola

1976 Ruby, Rosie, Bess, (I don't know the three in the middle), Irene, Cleffie 

(It was a very windy day.)

1988 L-R: Lowell, Bernice, Olan, Vernell, Evalee, Cleffie, Irene, Ruby

Ruby Hicks Barnett

Ruby Hicks Barnett, Irene Hicks Barnett, Cleffie Hicks Burford

Back: Lowell, Bernice, Olan, Vernell, Evalee. Front: Cleffie, Irene, Ruby.

Hicks Ancestors - Generation 4 - Lowell Vernon Hicks

  Lowell Vernon Hicks was born 03 June 1930, Judsonia, White County, Arkansas

PHOTO: Annie Hicks and Lowell Vernon Hicks

Lowell was the youngest child of Ulysses and Annie Arnold Hicks

PHOTO: Back - Cleffie, Irene, Elvin, Jack and Ruby. Front - Vernell, Ulys holding Oma Dell and Bernice, Olan, Annie holding Lowell, Evalee.

Lowell served in the U.S. Navy 

PHOTO: Lowell is top row center

Lowell Hicks married Elaine Bernadette Roussos December 1949 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts

Lowell and Elaine had five children - Russ, Evan, Ernie, Jamie, and Mayrose

* * *

Lowell died 15 October 2018, Berrien County, Michigan.

Elaine died 03 April 2015 in Berrien County, Michigan.

They are buried in Hickory Bluff Cemetery, Stevensville, Berrien County, Michigan

Ernie Hicks died 15 November 2018 in Joliet, Will County, Illinois

Hicks Ancestors - Generation 4 - Bertha Bernice Hicks

 Bertha Bernice Hicks was born 02 February 1929, Judsonia, White County, Arkansas

Family lore has it that her full name was intended to be Odell Avanell Bertha Bernice. (You'd think Grandma Hicks would have been running out of names by this time, but you'd be wrong.) Family lore also has it that Grandma solicited baby name suggestions from everybody she knew. I wonder if that's where I got my fascination with names?

Bernice was the 6th daughter of Annie and Ulysses Hicks

The Hicks girls, in order of birth - Ruby, Irene, Cleffie, Evalee, Vernell, Bernice

Bernice Hicks married Jay Bridges 10 February 1945 in Benton Harbor, Berrien County, Michigan

Jay and Bernice had three children: Shelby, Gregory (died at birth), and Cindy.

PHOTO: Cindy and Shelby Bridges

PHOTO: Shelby and Cindy

PHOTO: Bernice, Shelby, Cindy

PHOTO: Cindy and her husband Dale, Shelby and his wife Beverly 

* * *

Bernice married Jim Snelling November 1968.

Bernice married Bill Rogers 11 July 1970.

They were married 32 years, until his death in 2003.

Bernice Hicks married Dean Kittleson 04 June 2005 

I don't have a picture of Dean.

* * *

Bernice died 15 May 2016 in St. Joseph, Berrien County, Michigan

 Jay Bridges died 15 March 2012 in California. 

Hicks Ancestors - Generation 4 - Ulysses Olan Hicks

 

Ulysses Olan Hicks was born 03 November 1927, in Judsonia, White County, Arkansas. 

 

Olan was the 8th child of Ulysses and Annie Arnold Hicks

Olan Hicks married Barbara Jean Smith 28 August 1945 in Lake City, Arkansas

 

 

Olan and Barbara had three children - Jeannie, Clint, and Chuck

 

 

* * *

Olan died 03 June 2019, age 91

 

OBIT:

Evangelist, author, musician and teacher Olan Hicks, 91, passed from this life on Monday morning June 3. Mr. Hicks was born on Nov. 3, 1927, to U.F. and Annie Hicks of Judsonia, Ark.

He was the third youngest of nine children. All of his siblings are deceased. Mr. Hicks, a veteran of the U.S. Army, was stationed in Italy as World War II came to its end. He married Barbara Jean Smith on Aug. 28, 1945, and they worked together for 73 years as an evangelistic team, seeking to teach God's truths of hope, forgiveness and love through the words of the Bible.

He was the father of three children, Jeanne (Marcus) Barnett, Clint (Janice) Hicks and Chuck (Melinda) Hicks. He was grandfather to seven grandchildren, Dawnmarie (Charlie) Oyler, Marla (Eric) Suggs, Aimee (Joe) Burch, Matthew (Sara) Hicks, Carrie (Eric) Bishop, Chad (Jill) Hicks, Molly (Blake) Campbell, and a large number of great-grandchildren, nephews, nieces, etc.

The funeral service for Mr. Hicks will be held on Thursday morning, June 6, with visitation at 10 a.m. followed by the service at 11 a.m. at Roller-Daniel Funeral home in Searcy, Ark. He will be interred at the White County Memorial Gardens.

* * *

Barbara Hicks died 18 January 2020, age 89

They are buried in  White County Memorial Gardens, Searcy, White County, Arkansas