Dorothy Hicks, 90, hard worker found enjoyment on cruises

Dorothy Hicks was a hard worker who didn't retire until age 78. But when she relaxed, she did it in style.

She loved the luxury of ocean liners, so she and her husband of 69 years, Frank Hicks of Kennesaw, went on cruises. Seventeen cruises.

"She enjoyed the atmosphere of the ship," Mr. Hicks said. "We just enjoyed cruising and that 12 o'clock meal at night."

Dorothy Hicks, 90, of Kennesaw died Saturday. The memorial service will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at Mary Brannan United Methodist Church, 1776 Sylvan Road, Atlanta. Carmichael-Hemperley Funeral Home of East Point is in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. Hicks was born in Henry County and grew up with five siblings in Oakland City, in southwest Atlanta. As soon as she got out of high school she took a job with Dwoskins, an interior design and home decorating firm, said Mrs. Hicks' daughter, Sandra Forgerson of Kennesaw.

"She worried about money," Mrs. Forgerson said. "They had a lot of financial problems."

Later Mrs. Hicks worked for the Max M. Cuba accounting firm as a secretary. When one of the company lawyers, Jim Harper, started his own firm, Mrs. Hicks followed. She stayed with the firm until she retired about 12 years ago.

"She had an unbelievable work ethic," Mrs. Forgerson said. "Work was kind of a therapy for her."

Mrs. Hicks had few outlets besides church and family, her daughter said. But after her husband retired as an executive with Butler Shoes, the couple started to travel the world. They visited the South Pacific several times, Alaska and Europe.

Mrs. Forgerson said her mother liked to dress up, dine with the ship captain, meet the other passengers and be waited on.

Her husband said his wife liked everything about shipboard life. Her favorite cruise, he said, was to St. Martin.

"She enjoyed dancing and you didn't have to worry about packing up every day," he said.

Though she loved traveling, home was the most important thing for Mrs. Hicks. She doted on her two grandchildren.

Grandson Jeff Jones recalled that while he was in junior high school, he became obsessed with writing letters and receiving mail. Mrs. Hicks, who the kids called "Dot Dot," was well aware of this, since she lived nearby and saw him at least once a week.

"Dot Dot became my pen pal," Mr. Jones wrote in an e-mail. "Every week, she faithfully typed letters and clipped comics for me from The Atlanta Constitution. I used to love to

get her letters in the mail, and saved them all. She encouraged me in whatever I did."

Another time, Mr. Jones joined "a really awful noisy rock band. I still laugh when I think of Pa Pa and Dot Dot arriving in their Sunday best to see the performance and sitting perfectly still and attentively through the whole thing. Everyone else was just wearing old T-shirts and blue jeans and the audience was a bit rowdy. After the performance was over, she told me: 'You were great. I can't believe you didn't even use sheet music.' "