After we were finished and cleaned up, she offered us a piece of homemade pie. We gladly accepted the treat. As we ate, Sister Hicks began to reminisce about her early life. This time I was doubly surprised when she related what she did the day she and her husband Webster were married.

She, being under 18 at the time, was not of age to get married without permission from her parents. So she and Webster decided to go to a justice of the peace. She didn’t want to lie about her age, so she devised a plan that she thought, in her youthful way, solved her problem. When the JP ask her if she was over 18 she answered, yes. Since in those days a person’s word was all that was required, the JP married the happy couple. After leaving the justice’s office, she simply took off her shoe and pulled out a piece of paper. On the paper, she had written the number 18. So, you see, when the JP had asked his question, she had indeed been over 18.

I said that I was doubly surprised. Once that this dear saintly mother of the church could have ever been that conniving. Secondly, that she told us about it. I came to realize this type of openness was just another her endearing qualities.

Ida Hicks’ faithfulness to her Lord was not confined to her church work. Although her husband, Webster, had not, to my knowledge, ever attend church with her, she rarely missed a service. However, it was quite obvious to all that she deeply loved Webster and I never once heard a negative comment or complaint in regard to him. She was always concerned about his relationship with Christ.

Webster was to a great extent a casualty of World War I. He had been involved in the trench warfare in Europe, which led to many lasting physical problems. In his latter years, he also suffered greatly from gout. Ida nursed and cared for him day in day out.

He was a hard man to read in terms of spiritual things. I talked to him on several occasions and he impressed me as a man with a rather vague understanding of the Bible.

Many times when I would visit he would be very talkative and tell me about his war days. He never did so in a boastful manner. Instead, it was as if he was orally reliving the experience and in doing so, his mind was at least temporally relieved. Other times his reaction to my visit was humorous to me. If he was having a bad day and not feeling like communicating he simply would swivel his rocker around.  Sister Hicks and I would then continue to visit, with him setting in his rocker with its back to us. Some might have thought this to be rude, but I saw it differently. He did not want to prevent Ida from visiting so he found a way to “leave the room” without really having to leave it.

During the time, I was Sister Hicks’ pastor, Webster was well into his nineties. There were several occasions when we thought Webster was dying. One day he would be in the hospital and in very critical condition and then he would rally. Sometimes in just a few days, he would be out of the hospital and out working in his yard. Each time he was low, Ida would be so concerned that he would die without her knowing how he stood with God. She had shared her faith with him for years and prayed for him daily.

Then one day Webster went to the hospital for the last time. He was semi-comatose and not responsive to Ida or others. His legs and feet had turned black and he was delusional. He had always been a great fan of fishing. On more than one occasion when I was in his room, He would be lying on his back in bed “casting” and “reeling” in his “fish” There certainly was a greater sense of finality, this time.

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