Sybil Marie Hicks was a nurse, a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. She also had a great sense of humor that lives beyond her time on earth in an obituary she wrote with the help of two of her children before her life was ultimately taken by Alzheimer’s disease.
The Canadian mother of five died on February 2 and her farewell to the world was published in her hometown paper, The Hamilton Spectator, to the delight of anyone who reads it.
“It hurts me to admit it… but I, Mrs. Ron Hicks from Baysville, have passed away,” Hicks began, before going on to details surely added by someone other than herself.
“I passed peacefully with my eldest daughter, Brenda, by my side February 2, 2019 at 8:20 a.m.”
Getting the pertinent facts out of the way, Sybil launches into affectionate and funny musings on her life and family.
“I leave behind my loving husband, Ron Hicks, whom I often affectionately referred to as a “Horse’s A**”,” Hicks joked.
“I also left behind my children whom I tolerated over the years; Bob (with Carol) my oldest son and also my favourite,” she continued. “Brian (with Ginette) who was the Oreo cookie favourite, Brenda AKA “Hazel” who would run to clean the bathrooms when she heard company was coming. Barbara (with Gordon) the ever Miss Perfect and finally Baby Bruce who wouldn’t eat homemade turkey soup because he didn’t want to be alert looking for bones while he ate.”
It’s estimated that at least 44 million people suffer from Alzheimer’s worldwide.
Hicks went on to lament not getting to see her grandchildren grow up. Writing, “I will miss seeing my sweetest grandchildren; Caitlin, Megan, Joel, Issac, Mason, Rachel, Annie, Emma, Harrison, Clark, Choe, Orion, Griffin … grow up to be the incredible people they are meant to be.”
She went on to share some of her proudest achievements and highlights from her life.
“I graduated from Waterdown High School with honors while wearing my shiny bright saddle shoes. I later graduated from Hamilton General Hospital School Nursing class of 1957B — Best Class EVER!
‘”In 1972 Ron and I loaded the car with the 5- B’s and headed north to run a school bus company for over 20 years in Baysville, Ontario. I was an active horticulturalist, a member of the Eastern Star and a member of the Lion’s Club in Baysville.
“I finally have the smoking hot body I have always wanted… having been cremated.
“Please come say goodbye and celebrate my wonderful life with my husband and his special friend Dorothy who is now lovingly taking care of my horse’s a**.
“For those of you who are wondering who assisted me in writing this… it wasn’t my husband, it wasn’t my oldest, nor was it my youngest…” she wrote coyly.
“Thank you all for sharing my life with me. I am off to swim to the buoy and back. Love, Sybil.”
According to one Reddit commenter, the Dorothy referenced is a good friend who helped care for Sybil, and by extension her husband Ron, through her decline with Alzheimer’s.
It’s surely a gift for Mrs. Hicks’ family and friends to read such a true-to-form farewell from a woman they will miss and wonderful that her joie de vivre is shared with the world on the internet.