Community Surrounding Hicks Family With Labor Of Love Kick-Off For Room Addition Is October 16 By Sherrie Norris The High Country community is always ready to lend a hand in times of need – we’ve seen it happen time after time, and now is no exception. According to Connie Regan-Blake, one of the area’s most noted storytellers, and Barry Nealy, Director of Missions at Three Forks Baptist Association in Boone, the family of the late Ray Hicks needs help, and it’s time for us all to step up to the plate. Leonard Hicks and a family friend visit with brother, Ted, and mother, Rosa, on the front porch of the family home. Photo courtesy of Connie Reagan-Blake Ray Hicks received world-wide recognition for decades of storytelling, but he and his family never benefited financially. Since Ray’s death last year, the Hicks family has had a difficult time, in addition to the grief of losing their beloved husband and father. “For his widow, Rosa, and son, Ted, this year has been a time of change and they need our help,” Connie shares. “During the last months of Ray’s life, Ted began to have serious health problems. Two weeks after Ray passed away, Ted was hospitalized due to complications with diabetes, including a hurt foot that would not heal. Ray’s widow, Rosa, has been diagnosed with leukemia and heart disease.” Ted is now on dialysis and his overall health has rapidly declined. He is taken into Boone by volunteers three times a week, for four hours of dialysis each time. His name has recently been added to the waiting list for a kidney transplant. Folks who know them best say they cannot endure another winter with only wood heat, carrying water from the spring and using an outhouse. “Rosa, who is also in poor health, is now caring for Ted, who is no longer able to help her with the chores. The other Hicks children who live in Tennessee visit as often as they can; they did a lot during the summer to tend the garden and continue to help where and how they can. Those who never had the pleasure of visiting in the Hicks residence on Old Mountain Road above Matney, may not realize that the family has never had the basic conveniences that most of us take for granted. “They have no running water, no indoor plumbing, no washer and dryer and only wood heat in winter.” With Rosa and Ted’s health problems, the entire Hicks family and their friends agree that it is necessary to add on a room with those conveniences . . . and Rosa says ‘I’m ready!’” With the help of the generosity of The National Storytellers and Three Forks Baptist Association, the goal at hand is to build an additional room for Rosa and Ted “with good insulation, indoor plumbing and oil heat.” Barry Nealy states, “We hope to complete construction before winter sets in.” Local contractor, Skip Greene, has taken the reins on the building project, Nealy shares, and will need workers – skilled and unskilled –support groups and volunteers to help provide the construction, electrical and plumbing work, meal preparation, financial and prayer support, etc. The kick-off is planned for Saturday, October 16, with construction planned to continue through November, “or however long it takes.” Connie Regan- Blake states, “Rosa and Ted acknowledge that this is an extremely hard and challenging time, but they accept it in a matter-of-fact way, with an enormous amount of grace and humor that continues to be awe inspiring for me. If you went up to visit just for a day, you wouldn’t necessarily see the difficulties. Rather, you might just see Ted outside on the same porch where Ray used to tell stories.” Connie says during one of her recent visits, she joined Rosa, and another son, Leonard, in the kitchen talking and planning for the new room, “and for a moment we got quiet . . . then we heard Ted outside on the front porch telling about Jack and the Giants to my friend, Nancy. Rosa smiled and said, ‘Listen to Ray out there.’ Connie says there is a remarkable similarity between Ted’s voice and Ray’s. “And Ted is getting more comfortable with telling . . . As his health improves, I’m hoping we can get him down off the mountain and onto the stage. The telling seems to bring him as much healing and happiness as it did for his dad. Ted has his own style, but you can hear the same humor and generosity that we heard in Ray’s stories.” In conclusion, Connie states, “Your continued prayers and thoughts have always been appreciated by the Hicks family, and Rosa still says she can ‘feel every single one.’ Ray would have been 82 years old on August 29 . . . What a great way to celebrate him and his life by making sure Rosa and Ted can live out their days with a few more comforts. Rosa asked me to thank the International Storytelling Center for all their support and all the folks that are (and will be) working on this project.” There is a new website dedicated to the memory of Ray Hicks and to this building project, accessed at www.rayhicks.com Donations to the Ray and Rosa Hicks Fund can be made directly online, or contributions may be mailed to The Ray & Rosa Hicks Fund, c/o International Storytelling Center, 116 West Main St, Jonesborough, TN 37659. Rosa and Ted would also love to receive notes of encouragement, which may be sent to their address at 218 Old Mountain Road, Banner Elk, NC 28604. For those interested in helping with the project kick-off scheduled for Saturday, October 16, or at other times convenient to personal schedules, please contact Skip Greene at 963-0778.