History
In the early 1970's, at the age of thirty-five, Marvin Hicks made a life-changing decision. His wife took over the daily operation of their florist business, when he moved to Louisville, Kentucky to attend the Kentucky School of Mortuary Science, and to complete his personal goal of becoming a funeral director and embalmer.
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| Rucker Kendrick Home |
Marvin S. Hicks Funeral Home, Inc. became a reality in 1972, when Marvin Hicks and his wife, Mary Ann Smith Hicks, opened their home to the public. Situated on North Highway 90 in Wayne County, just on the outskirts of the city of Monticello, the funeral home became an entity in a large, two-story antebellum-type Southern Home.
With living quarters on the second floor for their growing family of four children, Marvin and Mary Ann Hicks began their dream of providing quality, personal funeral service with sincere dignity to the families of Wayne County and Monticello. As an added service, Marvin S. Hicks Funeral Home provided an ambulance service for emergency medical care and transportation for those patients with special needs. The funeral home remained at this location until 1976, when it was relocated to its present location at 805 North Main Street. This large, three story late nineteenth century home provided spacious rooms and elaborate antique architecture that created the comfortable, caring atmosphere that Marvin and Mary Ann Hicks wanted to provide for each family that requested their services.
In May of 1984, Marvin S. Hicks Funeral Home, Inc. sold its ambulance service to a member of the emergency medical team, Don Huffaker, to create the present Transcare Ambulance Service. In 1986, Marvin S. Hicks Monument Company was created to provide quality, professionally carved memorials in an effort to provide further service to the families of Wayne County and Monticello. In 1995, a detailed expansion and renovation of the funeral home was begun. The need for more chapel space had become apparent, and after completion of this expansion project, the chapel of the funeral home nearly doubled in size, raising the number of chairs from 150 to its present capacity of 300 chairs. As financial and personal concerns began to occupy the minds of many in the late 1980's and early 1990's, a program to help people pre-arrange and pre-pay their funeral arrangements was created with the funeral home. Funeral trusts and burial insurance plans have become a large part of the service provided for the public, where families can plan their final arrangements in advance without the emotional strain of making important decisions in a hastily made manner. This service gives families the assurance that their final wishes will be carried out, and it eases the emotional and financial burdens associated with the death of a loved one.
Marvin's wife and business partner, Mary Ann Hicks, completed her degree as a licensed funeral director in 1989, so that she could assist her husband further in the funeral home. She and Marvin continued to co-own and operate a florist located next door to the funeral home, offering beautiful fresh and silk arrangements tailored for the funeral service. As their family grew, the interest to continue the tradition that their parents started was passed on to their children.
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| The Marvin Hicks Family |
Eldest son, Forrest Richard Hicks, joined his father in 1986 as a licensed funeral director and embalmer, after completing a Mortuary Science degree from Mid-America College of Mortuary Science. Another son, Gordon Lynn Hicks took over management of the burial responsibilities of the funeral home in 1990, and after attending a training program in Elberton, Georgia, expressed interest and talent as a monument chiseler and engraver for the monument company in 1995. Eldest daughter Myra Jill Hicks Lawson joined the family business full time in 1999, after completing a BA degree in Paralegal Studies at Morehead State University. She completed her funeral director apprenticeship and received her funeral director's license in 2002. Youngest daughter, Amynda Jan Hicks Lewis, is currently an elementary school teacher in the Wayne County School system, and works part-time in the family business when needed.
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| Mary Ann Smith Hicks |
On a sad note, the family experienced their own loss on February 4th 2002, when Mary Ann Hicks, their beloved wife, mother and grandmother, passed away suddenly at the age of 64, after a stroke and subsequent heart failure. A lengthy battle with kidney disease and a kidney transplant in August 2001 couldn't keep her down, as she never failed to miss a day at work with her family. Her love and compassion for others remains a benchmark for all to follow, and her memory and inspiration will carry the family into the future.
The present business motto of Marvin S. Hicks Funeral Home, "Our Family Serving Your Family" is much more than that. It is the continuation of a tradition of quality, personal service with dignity and sincerity at life's most important hour of need, when families can extend a hand of caring and a word of comfort and consolation to one another.
