Richard LeRoy Hicks

Published 10:05 pm Saturday, March 1, 2014

Funeral services for Richard LeRoy Hicks of Wheatley, Ark., are 11 a.m. on Wednesday, March 5, 2014, at Little Rock Funeral Home with burial in Pinecrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Alexander, Ark. Little Rock Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Visitation is Wednesday from 10 until service time at the funeral home.

Mr. Hicks, 89, died Friday, Feb. 28, 2014, at his residence. He was born on March 21, 1924, in Wheatley, Ark., the first and only son of Roy Hicks and Alma Dunnerman Hicks.

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He was raised in Stuttgart and graduated from Stuttgart High School in 1941. He joined the Army in March 1943 and met his wife, Ferrol Lee, at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, during officer training. They married Aug. 2, 1945. In World War II, he was a pilot in the Army Air Corps. Following the war, he graduated from Draughon School of Business in Little Rock, managed Red Top Car Rental until 1972, and retired from Bale Chevrolet in 1988. He also managed the family farm in Stuttgart.

Mr. Hicks was a selfless man, serving in the Lions Club, as adjutant with American Legion Post 128, and supporting numerous charitable organizations. A kind and humble man of integrity, he was deeply devoted to his family and always available to assist others. His sense of humor will always be warmly remembered. Richard enjoyed family gatherings, fishing, traveling, and dancing with Ferrol Lee in the Twirling Lariats Square Dance Club.

Preceding him in death were his parents; his son, Stephen Hicks; and great-grandson, Tristan Flynn.

Survivors are his wife of 68 years, Ferrol Lee Smith Hicks; two daughters, Carol Brown of Little Rock and Janet Griffin of Orlando, Fla.; eight grandchildren, Jenn Flynn, Delana Keeling, Rebecca Chappell, Melissa Shipman, Christen Miles, Virgil Leroy Brown, Cora Rock and Janet Peacock; 15 great-grandchildren; and his sisters, Doris Kessler of Memphis, and Annette Heien of Beaumont, Texas.

Mr. Hicks’ online guestbook may be found at www.littlerockfuneralhome.com