Amy Elizabeth Evans Hickman passed away peacefully in the home of her son, Mark, in Lexington, SC, on Mar. 3, 2025, attended by loving family members. She was born on Oct. 8, 1923, in Raleigh, WV, to the late Lenwood C. and Bessie L. (Campbell) Evans.
Amy spent her early childhood in Raleigh and in Talcott, WV, where she enjoyed wonderful times with her grandparents, Calvin and Ada Cave Tyler Evans and Clarkston and Martha Campbell, and with her beloved Evans and Campbell uncles, aunts, and cousins. She was baptized in the faith at Second Baptist Church of Talcott, the church where both sets of grandparents were founding members. Amy was a prized soloist in the church at an early age. Her singing was so loved that when she returned to Raleigh at the end of one summer her cousin Virginia asked her, “Who’s going to sing at the funerals?” Her voice was a gift from God, and she used it to sing her faith. When she sang, she was transcendent, and she routinely took congregations to a higher plane throughout her life. At other times, she was simply turning ordinary events at home into impromptu songs to the amusement of her children. She was always singing.
Amy graduated from Stratton High School in Beckley, WV, and wed on Christmas Eve of the same year. She and her husband, John Hickman, journeyed north as part of the Great Migration after World War II, finally settling in the Detroit, MI, area to live and raise their growing family. She focused her attention on being a mother to her ten children while also working to help support her family. In 1969 she returned to West Virginia with her four youngest sons and settled in Lewisburg to be close to family. She became a watch care member of John Wesley United Methodist Church, where she was a featured soloist in the Senior Choir for many years in addition to organizing a Junior Choir. She worked as a domestic in a private home until she was hired to work at Greenbrier Center, where she worked for 10 years. She retired from the Center at the age of 60 as the Housekeeping Supervisor. Later, she served as a Foster Grandparent at Greenbrier Center and in the Greenbrier County School System. In later years, she was cared for lovingly by her daughter Joya Simpson and her husband Maurice in Roanoke, VA, when she could no longer remain at home. In 2019 she moved permanently from Lewisburg and went to live with her son Donald and his wife Tonia in Mint Hill, NC, for five months before moving in with her son Mark with whom she spent the remainder of her life at his homes in Lexington, SC, and White Sulphur Springs.
Amy was preceded in death by her parents, her brother James who died in infancy, and her beloved brother and sister and their spouses, Lenwood J. (Laura Janis) Evans, and Edith (Millard) Seams. Also preceding her in death were her husband John H.O. Hickman; a son, Ralph Quincy Hickman; a great-grandson, Patrick Hickman; as well as cherished daughters-in-law, Alice, Patricia, Sophia and Lici. She is survived by nine children: John P. Hickman of Caldwell; Kenneth (Gwen) Hickman of Randolph, MA; Christopher (Donna) Hickman of Southgate, MI, Joya (Maurice) Simpson of Lake Wylie, SC; Salim (Hanan) Mu’min of Oak Park, MI; Donald (Tonia) Hickman of Mint Hill, NC; David Hickman of Southfield, MI; Perry (Darlene) Hickman of Winston-Salem, NC; Mark Hickman of Lexington, SC, and White Sulphur Springs; daughter by marriage, Octavia Hickman of Lewisburg; 21 grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren, 7 great-great grandchildren; a host of dearly loved nieces and nephews; her double cousin Thurmond (Diane) Evans of Talcott, WV; many Evans and Campbell relatives; and a family of friends in Michigan and West Virginia. She will be greatly missed.
Funeral service will be held at 11 a.m., Tuesday, Mar. 11, at the Morgan Funeral Home Chapel. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m., Monday, Mar. 10, at the funeral home. Entombment will follow the service in the Rosewood Cemetery Mausoleum.
Online guestbook can be signed at www.morganfh.net. Arrangements by Morgan Funeral Home, Lewisburg, WV.
