Parker A. Hicks, Jr.

COLEBROOK, NH-- Mr. Parker A. Hicks, Jr. 86, of Colebrook, NH, passed away early Saturday morning, November 26, 2011, in the hospice room of the Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital in Colebrook with his loving family by his side. Born in Columbia, NH, on August 14, 1925, to the late Parker A. Hicks, Sr. and Theresa (Clark) Hicks, Parker was a 1943 graduate of Colebrook Academy where he was Class President and excelled in basketball and baseball. He was in the Class of 1947 at Dartmouth College and a member of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. His education was interrupted by World War II, during which Parker served with honor in the U.S. Army Air Corps. While training in Texas at Ellington Field, he met his wife, Janet. After his military service, Parker returned to Colebrook as joint owner in the family business, PA Hicks and Sons Hardware Store and Lumber Yard. He eventually sold his share of the family business and joined the US Customs Service. He retired in 1987 after 17 years of government service. Parker was a proud Colebrook resident and active community member, serving several terms as school board member and town selectman. Well rounded in his interests, Parker had traveled throughout most of the US including Alaska. A well-known athlete – he loved to play tennis, golf, basketball, and ski, and was renowned for his ability to drive the third hole at the Colebrook Country Club, and to sink a flat-footed three pointer without even looking at the hoop. A private pilot, he was involved with Civil Air Patrol for many years. Lover of political debate, music, literature, math, engineering, architecture and computers, one family friend said, “I never laughed so hard or thought so hard with anyone else in my life than with Parker Hicks.” PA instilled a respect for his craft and for hard work in his children and family inspiring and supporting them each to achieve in their individual strong suits (all shared interests of his own). His daughter was one of the Navy’s first female pilots and is a Captain and Assistant Chief Pilot for Continental Airlines, his son is a NH Supreme Court Justice and another son was a presidential scholar, Harvard graduate and is Managing Director for The Principal Financial Group. Another son is involved with politics in Concord, NH. Parker was a true craftsman with a love of building and restoring homes and businesses--often working on homes built by his grandfather, AC Hicks. Parker and his crew (most often including one or more of his kids) worked at one time or another in most of the homes in Colebrook and throughout the region. Parker is survived by his loving wife of 63½ years, Janet (Brakel) Hicks of Colebrook, NH; his four children, Pamela Hicks Krueger of Hillsborough, NJ, Gary Ellis Hicks and wife Patty of Manchester, NH, Dan Parker Hicks and husband, Mark of Plymouth, Mass., and Michael William Hicks of Concord, NH; his three grandchildren, Catherine Krueger Sullivan, Rebecca Hicks Gallup and James Gary Hicks; his two great-grandchildren, Cole Byron Sullivan and Chloe Ann Sullivan; and a brother, Richard Hicks and wife Olive of Colebrook. A memorial service will be held at the Monadnock Congregational Church on Sunday, December 4, 2011, at 2 p.m., followed by a time of fellowship and refreshment in the church vestry at 3 p.m. An interment service with military honors will be held in the spring at the Colebrook Village Cemetery. Expressions of sympathy may be made in Mr. Hicks’ memory to the Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital, 181 Corliss Lane, Colebrook NH, 03576, for the benefit of their hospice room. Condolences may be offered to the family on-line by going to www.jenkinsnewman.com. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Jenkins & Newman Funeral Home, Colebrook, NH.

Parker A. Hicks, Jr.

August 14, 1925 - November 26, 2011