Norman G. Hickam
Norman G. Hickam was born in rural Alto Pass on Nov. 19, 1921, the son of George Allen and LuMeda Belle McKinney Hickam, and died on Aug. 28, 2022, at the Illinois Veterans Home in Anna, where he had resided since June 2021.
He was the eighth of 10 children, with three sisters and six brothers.
He worked in the CC Camps as a dental assistant. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II from 1943; 1944 to 1945 in the Anti-Aircraft Command as a first lieutenant as secretary to the general stationed in Hawaii. After discharge, he did five years of Reserve Service.
As an Honor Guard, having lost his best friend Dale Rogers in the war, Norman was grateful to get to escort Dale home.
Mr. Hickam retired from his timber business when he was 80 years old and remained active and didn’t stop gardening until he was 99 years old.
He was an active member of the First Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Anna. He regularly donated blood for many years.
Mr. Hickam is survived by sons George J. (Kim) Hickam and Jack Hickam (Sherri) and daughter, Judith D. Hickam (Fred); stepchildren Monty Walker, Connie (Kent) Boyd and Sharon Abernathy.
Surviving grandchildren are Patricia (Mike) Henard, Angie (Tim) Bowen, Victoria J. Wright, Charles (Kiya) Hartline II, Chad (Mihia) Hartline, Jenny (Louie) Hertter, Jackie Hickam, Jamie (Erik) Larsen, Jeffrey (Anniston) Hickam, Jeremy (Katie) Hickam, Jill (Ben) O’Dell, Tina Glasco, Cindy King, Zac Cobb, Marria Walker and special grandson, Curtis Walker; and a bushel and a peck full of great-grandchildren and great-great-grandbabies.
He is survived by one sister, Gladys Cavaness Smithey, and many nieces and nephews, as well as his First EPC family, who have been so loving and wonderful to him throughout the years.
He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers George Hickam and special nephew Lewis Hickam from Georgia, and brothers/sisters-in-laws Aubrey and Lydia, Cecil and Anna, Bryan and Vera, Glenn and Maxine, Jesse and Sara Hickam and Carolyn Hickam; and sisters/brothers-in-laws Mabel and Charles Minton, Juanita and Dick Gaddis, Charles Cavaness and Raymond Smithey; as well as sisters/brothers-in-laws Hazel and Fred Lilly and Clara and Lee Dallas. His daughters, Wilma Joan Hickam Sweitzer and Julianna M. Hickam; stepson Roy Walker; and granddaughter Deborah Lynn Hickam; grandson Jeffery Scott Hickam; great-grandson Andrew Larson; and many nieces and nephews. First wife and mother to his children, Opal Elizabeth Martin Hickam, and second wife and mother of his stepchildren, Betty J. Aden Walker Hickam.
100 years 9 months and 9 days, what a blessing you have been to all who have known and were loved by you, Dad.
Funeral services for Norman Hickam will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday, at Rendleman & Hileman Funeral Home in Anna. Interment with full military honors will follow at the Alto Pass Cemetery.
Visitation will take place from 10 a.m. until the time of service at 1 p.m. Thursday, at the funeral home.
Donations can be made in his memory to the Illinois Veterans Home in Anna, the First Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Anna or to the charity of the donor’s choice. Envelopes will be available at the funeral home.
To visit his memorial page and to leave online condolences for the family, visit the Rendleman & Hileman Funeral Home website at rendlemanhilemanfh.com.
Rendleman & Hileman Funeral Home in Anna is in charge of arrangements.