James Thomas Hicks
March 13, 1950 – May 2, 2022
James (“Jim”) Hicks passed away suddenly on May 2nd, 2022, at his home in Spring City, Utah. Born in Oakland, California on March 13, 1950 to Orvalle Hicks and Juliana Klubal. Jim had three siblings: Steven, Kathleen (Kathy), and Pamela (Pam). From Oakland, the Hicks family moved to the Fletcher Hills area in San Diego County. Jim graduated from Grossmont High School in La Mesa, California. He attended Grossmont College while working as the laboratory manager in the Grossmont High School Science Department. He was a favorite of both the students and faculty. Many of those friendships endured throughout his lifetime.
As a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jim was highly involved in the LDS Institute of Religion at San Diego State University. He left to serve a two-year LDS mission in Sao Paulo, Brazil and his parents moved to Phoenix. Upon returning from Brazil, Jim also moved to Arizona where he met Dori Schaufele. In 1976, they were married in the Mesa LDS Temple. Their family also lived in Fresno, California and Provo, Utah, where Jim provided computer customer support for the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University. They had four terrific children: John, Richard, Carolyn, and Rachel. Eventually, their family moved to Illinois to live in the greater Chicago area.
In 1999, Jim married his wife Marla in Salt Lake City, Utah. Their children formed a large blended family that is loyal, witty, boisterous, and at times wildly sarcastic. Jim provided computer support to medical research libraries and journals. In 2002, the family moved to La Mesa, California. Jim was forced to retire due to the increasing severity of his health conditions. In 2015, Jim and Marla returned to Utah to live a quiet life in Spring City.
Jim was a highly skilled and widely respected genealogist. He spent many years researching the genealogies and histories of our large, extended family. His legacy of 40,000 painstakingly documented records will help many people with their family history collections. In the last years of his life he developed expertise in genetic genealogy, further supporting his careful research.
Jim is survived by his wife, his children and grandchildren, his former wife, Dori (Greg) Henderson, sisters Kathy and Pam and their families, his uncle, William Hicks of Salt Lake City, and his Oakland cousins Sue (Jere) Brown and Mike Hicks and their families. Jim loved and was very proud of his children and their spouses and partners: John and Jacqueline (Webster) Hicks, Joshua (Sada Phonn) Bothwell, Nathanael (Chloe) Bothwell, Katherine Bothwell, Richard (Leanne) Hicks, Rachel (David) Caplinger, Emily (Art Nigro) Webster, Bethan Barsic, and Jon (Mandy Arbizo) Webster. Jim enjoyed his nieces and nephews and loved being “Pop-Pop” to his grandkids: Addison, Laila, Gabby, Landon, Jemma, Evan, Vern, Lelia, Hunter, Ava, and Ethan. Upon reaching the other side, Jim was surely met by his parents, grandparents, his brother Steven, his daughter Cari, and the many thousands of family and friends who preceded him. What a wonderful reunion that must have been!
According to Jim’s expressed wishes, his body was cremated. He asked specifically that the family hold no services. Love and gratitude to all those who cared for and loved Jim.