Vern Hicks
courtesy photo
Vern Hicks
RONAN — Vern Hicks passed away at 1 p.m., Feb. 27, 2013, at the Ronan home of his grandson, Joshua Hicks and Josh’s wife Rachael. Vern’s wife Audrey preceded him in death and passed away on Sept. 29, 2012. Vern’s six children, David, Douglas, Scot, Todd, Sara, and Joe; twenty-one grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren survive him.
A wake was observed at the North Crow home of Joshua and Rachael Hicks on Feb. 27 with a burial at the Ronan Cemetery at 10 a.m. the next morning. The following day at noon a memorial service at the Community Fellowship Church was held.
Vern Hicks was born in Detroit, Mich., on Aug. 6, 1926. He was born into a broken home and spent his youth in various homes but was most often in the home of his mother, Mildred. Vern had an older sister Shirley, from his mother’s side of the family and a younger brother Bill, from his father’s side of the family. Shirley preceded Vern in death. Bill survives Vern and resides in Dearborn, Mich.
Anyone who knew Vern, for any amount of time, likely heard him recount the watershed event of his life. As a boy of thirteen Vern heard a woman tell of the wonderful love of Jesus Christ and the death He died to reconcile fallen man to God. Vern committed his life from that time forward to the Savior who suffered on his behalf. That event shaped and directed Vern’s life from that moment until his dying breath.
Vern met the love of his life while recovering from illness in the infirmary of Moody Bible Institute when student nurse Audrey Fraser stepped into the room and opened the blinds. He later recounted, “I said to myself that’s the woman I’m going to marry.” He did. Vern and Audrey were married in Clawson, Mich., in 1947. Their first child David was born when the young couple lived in Pontiac, Mich. where Vern served as a youth pastor.
In 1949 the young family moved to Minnesota and Vern pastored Baptist as well as Christian and Missionary Alliance churches in Parkers Prairie and Forest Lake. In Minnesota three more boys were born, Douglas, Scot, and Todd.
In 1960 Vern accepted a church-planting mission in Moncton, New Brunswick and moved his growing family there. Vern and Audrey served three years in Moncton before moving their family of four boys to Chatham, Ontario. In Chatham Vern pastored another Alliance church for the remainder of the 1960s. In 1968 Vern and Audrey had their long-awaited daughter. Sara Courtney invaded the family of four boys.
In 1970 Vern and Audrey moved their family to Colonie, N.Y., where Vern pastored an Alliance church. It was in New York that Vern and Audrey adopted their youngest child Joe.
The Hicks family moved to Ronan, Mont., in the summer of 1973, though by that time only Sara and Joe still lived at home. Vern pastored the Alliance Church and then the Community Fellowship in Ronan. He retired in 2006 after sixty years of pastoral ministry. Throughout Vern’s years of ministry he was privileged to share his love for the Savior that transformed his life as a boy of thirteen. He often said that there was no joy like leading another person to the Savior.
During Vern’s years in Ronan he also fulfilled a lifelong passion to work with his hands while pastoring a church. Throughout his life he especially enjoyed working with motors. He put himself through college as a Greyhound Bus mechanic. After moving his family to the Valley, he and Audrey designed and built their own house on Glacier Lily Lane where Vern built a shop and ran Vern’s Appliance and Small Engine Repair.
He loved working with his neighbors, cutting wood, helping with the harvest, and making repairs. A strong advocate of community involvement, Vern drove a school bus for Ronan Public Schools and became the founding board chair for Mission Valley Christian Academy; now located in Polson.
Vern suffered the loss of his dear wife Audrey exactly five months ago. He now joins her, with the Savior they both loved and served together in their marriage of over sixty-five years. Joining their Savior together was something they both had looked forward to.
