T. Richard HICKS

HICKS, TRUMAN, HACKBARTH, AHRENS, PETERSON, JACOBSEN, DOCTER, LOHRBACH

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 4/20/2011 at 12:41:37

October 21, 1917 ---- April 18, 2011

HAMPTON, IA - T. Richard Hicks, 93, of Hampton died Monday, April 18, 2011, at Rehabilitation Center of Hampton. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday April 23, at the Morgan United Methodist Church near Dows. Pastor Erling Schultz and Pastor Ed Bard will officiate. Burial will take place in the Morgan Church Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. until service time on Saturday. Memorials may be made in T. Richard Hicks' name. Dugger Funeral Home, 100 N. Lee St. in Dows is in charge of arrangements.

Mason City Globe Gazette -- Iowa
April 20, 2011

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T. Richard Hicks, age 93, of Hampton died Monday, April 18, 2011 at the Rehabilitation Center of Hampton. Funeral services for Richard Hicks were held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, April 23, 2011 at the Morgan United Methodist Church near Dows. Pastor Erling Schultz and Pastor Ed Bard will officiate. Burial will take place in the Morgan Church Cemetery. Visitation for Richard Hicks will be held from 10 a.m. until service time on Saturday. Memorials may be made in T. Richard Hicks’ name. Dugger Funeral Home, 100 North Lee Street in Dows is in charge of arrangements. 

T. Richard Hicks was born on the family farm in Hamilton Township, Franklin County, Iowa, to Samuel and Jennie Truman Hicks on October 21, 1917. He attended country school a half mile from his home. This little country school is now on Grandpa’s Farm at the fairgrounds in Hampton. Richard graduated from Hampton High School in 1935. He stayed home to work for one year and then enrolled at Ellsworth College for a year before he transferred to Iowa State College, where he graduated in Animal Husbandry December 1940. On April 13, 1941, Easter Sunday, he was united in marriage to Dolores Marie Hackbarth at her parent’s farm in Morgan Township. The newlyweds built and lived in a little house on the Hicks’ family farm for two and a half years before they moved to Humboldt, Iowa, where Richard worked for Doane Agriculture Service as a farm manager. After three years, Richard, Dolores and family returned to his family farm of rural Hampton. To this new family, four children were born: Thomas, Linda, David, and Patricia. There are ten grandchildren, five girls and five boys, all of whom have college degrees, and ten great grandchildren. In 1956, after a major hailstorm destroyed their crops and Richard was severely burned in a kitchen fire, Richard began work as an adjustor for Federal Crop Insurance out of St Paul, MN. Dolores and family kept the farm operating during his absence until the summer of 1959. Richard was offered a job in Washington D.C. but found the lure of the land was too inviting and returned to the farm. Richard later worked with his brother, Llewllyn, forming the business LED Ballast that was used in tractor tires. 

As a young boy, Richard attended Pleasant Ridge Church of rural Bradford. When that church was destroyed, he and his family joined Morgan United Methodist Church of rural Dows where he remained a member the rest of his life. He was chairman of the board for years and held most offices within the church. The Morgan Church is where he met Dolores, his future bride. Richard loved to travel and meet new people. When vacationing in the west, he would drive up a long lane to a ranch house and visit with the owner about how he ranched, prices of commodities, and land prices. This was often much to the chagrin of his children!  He was always interested in anything new. One of his favorite trips was to the Holy Land, with all of the sites and significance of that area. Richard loved to eat good food and would invite all farm vendors in for a cookie or dinner. Dolores never knew how many might sit at their table, but she always seemed to be prepared with “extra”. Richard was born in his family home and, except for a few years in Humboldt, lived in this home all of his life. He was a “handy-man” who remodeled this house many times throughout the years. Most of the walls have been moved out and new rooms formed. In December of 2009, he and Dolores moved into Leahy Grove Independent and Assisted Living in Hampton where they celebrated seventy years of marriage last week on April 13, 2011. His family will always remember their times around the kitchen table with wonderful food, lively discussions and conversations with Grandpa!

Richard’s parents, brother, Llewellyn and sister, Marion preceded him in death. He is survived by his wife, Dolores, children: Thomas Hicks (Janis), Linda Ahrens (Merrill), David Hicks (Lois), all of rural Hampton, Patricia Peterson (Charlie), of Waconia, MN. Grandchildren: Kim Hicks Jacobsen of Dows; Shelley Ahrens, Rochester, MN; Ann Hicks, Muncie, IN; Cindy Ahrens Dockter, Rochester, MN; Jennifer Hicks Lohrbach, Ames; Paul Peterson, Kansas City, KS; James Hicks, Roseville, CA; Craig Peterson, Kansas City, MO; Jon Hicks, Cumming, IA; and Scott Peterson, Kansas City, KS. Richard also has ten great grandchildren and nieces and nephews.

Dows Advocate - Dows, Iowa
April 2011