On Wednesday, Nov. 30, Dorothy Jean (Sanders) Hicks, 88, suffered a massive stroke and died on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011, at the Overland Park Regional Medical Center.
She was born on Aug. 9, 1923, to Leland Lincoln and Helen (Bigley) Sanders. She grew up in the Blue Mound and LaHarpe communities and graduated from LaHarpe High School with the class of 1941.
After high school she attended nursing school, but after the outbreak of World War II she went to work at Pratt & Whitney in Kansas City, Mo., on the assembly line making aircraft parts and assembling planes.
In May 1950, she was married to Arthur Aften Hicks in Miami, Okla.. They made their home in the Blue Mound and LaHarpe communities. She was the mother of four children, Leland Miles (Butch), Helen Viola, Sue Ellen and Arthur Patrick Hicks.
She worked for Dr. Eugene Myers in Iola for many years until his retirement and then for Dr. T.O. Osborn until her retirement. She enjoyed being out and busy. She worked part-time during her retirement at the LaHarpe Senior Citizens Center and the Iola Public Library.
She is survived by a sister, Lois Sanders; three children, Helen (Hicks) Brand and her husband, Charlie, Osawatomie, Sue (Hicks) Riley and her husband, Steve, Fort Scott, and Patrick Hicks and his wife, Mickey, Iola; three granddaughters, Dawn (Holmes) Solko and her husband, Barry, Springfield, Mo., Stephanie (Brand) Young and her husband, Jason, Olathe, and Sarah (Hicks) Gonzalez and her husband, Nick, Humboldt; two grandsons, Jon-Michael Brand, Denver, Colo., and Jamie Hicks, Iola; and five great-grandsons and two great-granddaughters.
She was preceded in death by an infant brother, her eldest son, Butch, a grandson, Lee Hicks, and a granddaughter, Cassandra Hicks.
Memorial services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at LaHarpe City Hall.
In lieu of flowers the family is requesting memorials be sent to Senior Services of Southeast Kansas, P.O. Box 1415, Coffeyville, KS 67337.
Dorothy Hicks
