Jessie F. Hicks Endicott

My sister, Jessie Frances (Hicks) Endicott, three years older than I, was my friend and my ideal. She was there to guide the way for me whether it was my first day of school or my long-awaited first day at Iowa State University in September 1941. We made the 40-hour trip together by train from New Mexico to Iowa.

Later in her role as wife and mother, she continued to be my model. Jessie was a registered dietitian who graduated from Iowa State University in June 1942 and then served a year's internship in a hospital in Portland, Oregon. Here she met William Raymond Endicott Jr., M.D. They were married November 23, 1943, in the Presbyterian Church in Portland.

Later they made their home in Albany, Oregon. "Dr. Bill" and Jessie were the parents of five children: Janice Marie (Endicott) Seber, Rosemary Kay (Endicott) Morrison, William Raymond Endicott III, Julia Clare (Endicott) Powell and John Sterling Endicott. Jessie was the superb manager of a home that nurtured her children and welcomed the extended family. As a companion to her husband, she learned the skills of his hobbies - hunting and fishing - and quietly arranged the myriad details involved in family camping trips to the seashore and the mountains of Oregon.

A community volunteer for many causes, Jessie also served as a 4-H Club Leader for the Horse Project. Jessie had learned horsemanship skills when we lived in New Mexico. Our parents, Ralph Sterling Hicks and Myrtle Elizabeth (Rice) Hicks, were teachers in the U.S. Indian Service and served ten years at the Carrizo School on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in New Mexico. Our Apache neighbors gave Jessie and me two orphan range colts which our parents taught us how to raise train and care for. After her graduation in 1936 from Flandreau High School in South Dakota, Jessie helped save money for her college education by working two years as housekeeper for our parents, who were both employed.

When she entered Iowa State University in September 1938, Jessie lived in the Alice Freeman Cooperative Dormitory where she could work to earn part of her expenses until she graduated in 1942. Financing higher education for my brother, Charles Sterling Hicks, my sister Jessie and me was an endeavor involving work by the entire family and our devoted parents at length achieved their dream of seeing their three children graduate from Iowa State University.

My sister Jessie was born July 12, 1918, in Tabor Hills County, Iowa, in the home of her maternal grandparents, Charles Hilton Rice and Frances (Fellows) Rice. Jessie died November 12, 1968, in Albany, Oregon, where she had lived most of her married life. Our elder brother, Charles Sterling Hicks, led the way for us at ISU. After graduating from Flandreau High School in 1934, he worked two years for the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Black Hills of South Dakota to earn money for his education.

Brother Charley entered I.S.U. in September 1938 and graduated in 1941 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering and expertise in the then-new technology of RADAR. He was a member of the Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity. Charley entered the Army Signal Corps in 1941 and served four and a half years during World War II. His tour of duty included England Gibraltar Algiers in North Africa and Anzio in Italy. He was cited for service beyond the call of duty and attained the rank of major. After the war, Charley worked as a research engineer for the Bendix Corp. and later as a civilian research engineer for the Army at the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois. Charley married Jane A. Bellis in 1950 in Baltimore, Maryland.

They had two sons, Charles Christopher and Thomas Sterling, who are computer engineers. Jane (Bellis) Hicks is deceased. In 1963 Charley married Bertha B. Sullivan. Together they reared Charley's two sons and Bertha's children, Mary, Charles and Michael Sullivan. Charles and Michael are employed by the John Deere Co. Charley retired in 1992 and lives with his wife Bertha in Colona, Illinois. Charles Sterling Hicks was born July 8, 1916, at Ft. Defiance, Arizona. where his parents, Ralph Sterling Hicks and Myrtle (Rice) Hicks, were employed as teachers in the U.S. Indian Service.

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