James Hicks Sr of Sarasota passed away on Sept 20th at age 92. Survived by his 3 children Shirley Jones, Lloyd Hicks, Mary Nichols, 6 grand children and 10 great grand children. He will be buried next to his wife October 2nd at Sarasota National Cemetery. He was a faithful Christian, deacon and Sunday School teacher, and member of Heritage Bible Church. He was also an avid outdoors man who enjoyed hunting, fishing, scuba diving and flying.
Born and raised in Largo, he had a love for flying from an early age. He built and launched dozens of model airplanes, and took his first plane ride over Clearwater Beach at age 10 when the barnstormers came to town.
At Clearwater High School he excelled in mathematics and played football, and after graduation in 1944 he enlisted in the Army Air Corps with the dream of becoming a pilot. He was stationed at Freeman Army Air Base in Seymour Indiana where he spent many nights refueling planes in sub-freezing temperatures. One of his favorite stories was the “midnight chow” of thick, juicy steaks that was served to the crew as a reward for doing this difficult job. However with the war winding down the Army was not training any new pilots, so James received his honorable discharge without getting the flight training he had hoped for.
At age 19, still determined to achieve his goal of being a pilot, he returned to Largo and enrolled in flight school. He met Janet at a dance on Clearwater Beach, a 15 year old girl from New Jersey who was vacationing with her family. Trying to impress her, he let her drive his father’s car home, but she turned a corner too fast and rolled it over into a ditch. He used every penny of his Army muster pay to get it fixed. They dated for about 6 months and planned to get married, but her father thought she was too young, so they decided to elope. On the morning of April 19th, 1946, James borrowed an airplane and they flew from Tampa to Waycross Georgia, found a justice of the peace, and tied the knot.
They settled in Dunedin where he worked for his father as a carpenter building houses. Within a few years he had mastered the trade, went out on his own and built hundreds of homes during the early 60’s. He decided to try his hand at cabinetmaking and started his own shop, which grew very quickly within a few short years. His success in business allowed the family to travel the US, Canada and even several trips to Europe. He continued to fly every chance he got and even bought his own plane in the early 70’s.
By 1990 when most men would be planning for retirement, he decided to build his own airplane, which he did over the course of the next 10 years. Sadly, his health began to decline so he never got a chance to fly it, but on his 92nd birthday he received the gift of an airplane ride. For his last adventure he sailed off into the blue in a two-seater training plane and flew over Clearwater Beach one last time.
