June 30

 MEMORIAL...

Violet Mae Hicks Miller 1899-1972

This photo is not Violet Mae Hicks Miller. This is a photo of Violet's daughter Chlorine. (I only recently found this photo, and I had to figure out who she was.) 

I don't have any photos of Violet Mae Hicks, who passed away on this date in 1972. I don't have a picture of her husband, Rom Miller, either. But I have some photos of  her siblings. Violet was a daughter of Joseph Pinkney Hicks -- I always heard him referred to as "Uncle Pink". Uncle Pink's other children were Herbert, John Henry ('Jack'), and Bessie. I have photos of them.

In this photo, Herbert Hicks is top right. (The other two boys on top are Marlie Arnold and John Davidson Arnold. The men are (L-R) John Henry Arnold, unknown, Felix Hicks, George Carter, George Arnold, and David Hicks (?). The children in front are Odelcie Hicks, Rosie Hicks, and Etta Arnold. The location is Felix Hicks' blacksmith shop. Felix and David are brothers of my great-grandfather Ulysses Hicks. Marlie, John, and George Arnold are brothers of my great-grandmother Annie Arnold Hicks. Odelcie and Rosie are children of Felix Hicks. Etta is a sister to Marlie and John Arnold (and Annie). I don't know who took the picture, but it might have been Ulysses, since he was a professional photographer.

This photo is of Bessie Hicks Wheetley (left), her brother John Henry 'Jack' Hicks, and Jack's wife. (Her name is Floy, but she was called 'Bill'.) Bess and Jack were siblings of Violet Mae Hicks -- Uncle Pink's children. 

Uncle Pink married Anna Mariah VanWinkle and they had six children. The first was a boy named Travanion. He died when he was a baby, as a result of choking. Here's how my grandmother tells it: 

Travanion was a few months old, playing on the floor. The adults were eating popcorn or nuts (something like that) and a piece got dropped onto the floor and they didn't know it. Travanion got it and choked on it. That's how he died. (From Cleffie Hicks Burford)

Between Herbert and Bessie there was another boy who was stillborn or died at birth. Jack was the youngest of the six children.

Here is a photo of the Hicks brothers mentioned above:

And here is a photo of Annie Arnold Hicks and her siblings, mentioned in the blacksmith shop photo:

George, Annie, John, Marlie, Etta