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Rosa Hicks, Widow of Famed Appalachian Storyteller Ray Hicks Passes Away, Funeral Set for Tuesday Afternoon

Feb. 3, 2014. Rosa Harmon Hicks, 82, widow of famed Appalachian storyteller Ray Hicks, passed away on Friday, Jan. 31, at Life Care Center. Two weeks earlier, her son Ted Hicks passed away. 

Mrs. Hicks was born March 6, 1931 in Watauga County, a daughter of the late Lee Monroe Harmon and Mary Ellen McGuire Harmon. She was a homemaker and a member of Bethany Baptist Church.

Rosa Hicks
Rosa Hicks

Mrs. Hicks is survived by one son, Leonard Hicks and wife Linda Kay of Banner Elk and Piney Flats, Tennessee; three daughters, Dorothy Jean Odom and Kathy Ribble and husband Kenneth, all of Elizabethton, Tennessee, and Juanita Simerly and husband Jerry of Hampton, Tennessee; three grandsons, Daniel Lynn Hicks of Piney Flats, Troy Simerly and Shane Simerly, both of Hampton; one granddaughter, Ahsley Robinson and husband Scott of Piney Flat; three great-grandsons, Nathan Daniel Hicks of Elizabethton, Trenton Robinson of Piney Flats, and Ethan James Hicks of Bristol, Tennessee; two great-granddaughters, Alissa Madison of Bristol and Katlyn Cooper of Piney Flats, and two sisters, Wilma Colbaugh and husband Herman of Elizabethton, and Ruby Hicks of North Carolina. She is also survived by a number of nieces and nephews.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband Ray Hicks; one son, Ted Hicks; four sisters, Martha House, Mae Vance, Viola Ward, and Dorsey Hicks, and one brother, Filmore Harmon.

Funeral services for Rosa Harmon Hicks will be conducted Tuesday afternoon, February 4, 2014, at 2:00 o’clock, at Hampton Funeral Home Chapel. The body will lie in state, at the chapel, from 1:00 until 2:00 o’clock. Officiating will be Reverend Richard Trivette and Reverend James Byrd. Burial will follow in the Hicks Family Cemetery.

The family will receive friends Tuesday afternoon, from 1:00 until 2:00 o’clock, at the funeral home, prior to the service.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Hicks family, in care of Leonard Hicks, 218 Old Mountain Road, Banner Elk, North Carolina, 28604.

Online condolences may be sent to the Hicks family at www.hamptonfuneralnc.com.

Hampton Funeral and Cremation Service is in charge of the arrangements.