Familiar Faces

 These should be familiar faces by now ...

Six Hicks Sisters (say that three times fast)

 

Top: "Three Rubys" - Ruby Arnold is in the middle, Ruby Hicks on the right. I'm not sure who the Ruby on the left is. Might be Arbie's daughter. Ruby Arnold is one of Uncle George's girls, and Ruby Hicks is the oldest daughter of Ulys and Annie Arnold Hicks. Arbie is one of Uncle George's girls.

Top and Bottom: Vernell Hicks Leatherwood and Bernice Hicks Rogers - both are daughters of Ulys and Annie Arnold Hicks. (Sisters of my grandmother Cleffie Hicks Burford.) 1994 was the only reunion that I know of that was attended by all six of the Hicks sisters. 

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No no no, I take it all back. Here's a picture of the six Hicks sisters at the 1984 Carter/Arnold reunion!

L-R: Ruby, Irene, Cleffie, Evalee, Vernell, Bernice

And here is a picture of the six sisters with their mother, Annie Arnold Hicks, somewhere around 1950, I think. It looks like it was taken at the farm.

L-R: Ruby, Irene, Cleffie, Annie, Evalee, Vernell, Bernice

L-R: Ruby, Irene, Cleffie, Evalee, Vernell, Bernice

Bernice was born in 1929, so this picture was probably taken some time in the 1930s

Carter/Arnold reunion 1994

 

Top: Oma Dell, Bernice, Cleffie

Bottom: Bernice, Oma Dell, Cleffie, Ruby

Ruby, Cleffie, and Bernice are sisters. Oma Dell is Ruby's daughter, Cleffie and Bernice's niece. Oma Dell was actually older than her aunt Bernice. Ruby was the oldest of the 9 children of Ulys & Annie Hicks. She married young, and when she had Oma Dell some of her brothers and sisters were still children. Annie gave birth to two more children after her 1st grandchild (Oma Dell) was born. 

Top: Wathada and Hope

Bottom: Wathada and Cleffie

Wathada is Cleffie's daughter (my mother). Hope is a cousin of Cleffie's -- Cleffie's mother Annie and Hope's father Marlie were brother and sister. 

Siblings: George, Annie, John, Marlie, Etta

These are the children of John Henry and Adaline ("Maw") Arnold

Annie was my great-grandmother, who married Ulysses Hicks. I'm not sure I ever met any of the others, but all my life I heard a lot about Uncle George, Uncle John, Uncle Marlie, and Aunt Ettie.

Oma Dell and Wathada

Top: Oma Dell and Wathada

Bottom: Wathada and Cleffie

Oma Dell is Wathada's aunt -- daughter of Ruby Hicks Barnett. There is only eight years difference in their ages, and they have been close friends all their lives. Wathada, of course, is my mother. And Cleffie is her mother, my grandmother.

Wathada, Oma Dell, Cleffie -- on a road trip from California to Arkansas, Alabama, Michigan. This picture was taken in Mississippi at the Piney Woods School. Some time around 1991.

Me, Oma Dell, Wathada. Loxley (Alabama) Strawberry Festival, 1991.

Carter/Arnold reunion 1994

Sylvia was a cousin to my grandmother Cleffie Hicks Burford. Cleffie's mother Annie and Sylvia's father Marlie were brother and sister. Sylvia and Cleffie were born the same year -- 1917.

I was not at the reunion in 1990 or 1994. The pictures I have from those years came from my mother (Wathada) and Cleffie. The reunion had been held at Pine Grove Cemetery in Floral, Arkansas, every year, but then they started having it at the public park in Heber Springs, Arkansas. I'm not sure, but from looking at the pictures, it seems like maybe it had become a 2-day event by then. Anyway, 1990 and 1994 are the only years I know of that my mother attended the reunion. She was working on the family history and genealogy at that time. 

Carter/Arnold reunion 1994

 

The 1994 Carter/Arnold reunion is the only time that I know of when all six of the Hicks sisters attended. 

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Arvil (Jack) Barnett

September 1992

Left: All six of the Hicks sisters, Bald Knob, Arkansas, at the funeral home

Right: Ruby and Jack Barnett, married 65 years

Reunion 1990, Uncle Marlie's progeny

 

These are the last of the Carter/Arnold 1990 reunion pictures

Dorothy Mae is a sister of Sylvia Arnold Dye. Noma is the daughter of Sylvia.

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Photo: Delbert and Sylvia Dye

Photo: Sylvia and Delbert with their children Noma and Garland

Sylvia and Dorothy Mae are daughters of Uncle Marlie and Aunt Birdie Arnold. Marlie was a brother of my great grandmother Annie Arnold Hicks

Photo: Birdie and Marlie Arnold

Speaking of Uncle George

 

Remember Uncle George Arnold? All the people in the photos above are related to him. Toy and Coy are twin sons of Obie -- one of Uncle George's twin daughters Obie and Opie. Ed Garrett is the husband of Uncle George's daughter Verlie. Bill Hayes is the husband of Uncle George's oldest daughter Arbie. Calvin Jackson is a nephew of Uncle George -- the son of George's sister Etta Arnold Jackson.

Without Uncle George's 13 children, the Carter/Arnold reunion would be a much smaller event.

Reunion 1990

 

Left: Marcus and Jeannie Hicks Barnett

Right: Olan and Barbara Hicks and daughter Jeannie

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Photo: Olan and Barbara Hicks with children Clint, Jeannie, Chuck

Photo: Barbara and Olan Hicks, Chuck, Jeannie, Clinton

Annie and Ulys Hicks -- parents of Olan Hicks -- with Jeannie and Clint Hicks, 1955