[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16463]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 A CELEBRATION OF LIFE ANNIE GRAY HICKS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. CORRINE BROWN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 8, 2016

  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would like to include the 
following:

       Annie Mae Hicks was born August 18, 1935 in Culpeper, 
     Virginia to the late William Festus Gray, Sr., and Laura Mae 
     (Scott) Gray. She was the eldest of 6 children, William Jr., 
     Regina, Claudine, Hattie and Lillian.
       Ann, as she preferred to be called, spent her formative 
     years on her parents' farm where they raised livestock and 
     grew vegetables, The Gray family was a loving family and her 
     father believed in working hard. The Gray children all had 
     chores, but Ann had a deep love for learning and would often 
     be found doing homework or reading a book. Her siblings said 
     she loved school so much that if she missed a day she would 
     cry.
       At the young age of 16 she graduated from George Washington 
     Carver High School and was offered a scholarship to Virginia 
     Union College. Ann decided to attend college in Rochester, NY 
     where she had a cousin named Regina Alexander. She was 
     accepted at Brockport State College and worked as an elevator 
     operator at a local department store while she attended 
     college. Her bus ride to Brockport and back was an hour each 
     way.
       Soon after arriving in Rochester she joined Mt. Olivet 
     Baptist Church and she became active in the young adult 
     fellowship program. It is there that she met a young man 
     named Harry A.D. Hicks. At the time, Harry had already served 
     in the Air Force and was working on his Bachelor's Degree at 
     Rochester Institute of Technology. During this period, Harry 
     learned about Ann's gift of gab and her ability to do 
     homework at the same time.
       After graduating from Brockport State with a degree in 
     Elementary Education, Ann became a teacher. But, she found 
     that teaching was not her calling. She later became a Social 
     Worker and worked for 28 years at Monroe County Department of 
     Social Services, retiring in 1987. Ann worked hard and took 
     her job seriously. She knew that there were individuals and 
     families that needed to be connected to critical resources in 
     the community.
       As a Social Worker, she traveled all over Monroe County 
     meeting with families. In November 1975 she was one of the 
     initial 19 members of a class action law suit against Monroe 
     County Social Services for not hiring and promoting 
     minorities in supervisory positions. Ann and countless others 
     paved the way for those that followed them to be promoted 
     into senior level positions.
       After retiring, Ann and Doug, as she affectionately called 
     him, were able to travel to Italy, France, and England They 
     also enjoyed traveling to Washington, DC and Florida to spend 
     the winter with their daughter and family. Ann and Doug 
     enjoyed a marriage 49\1/2\ years.
       Ann, surrounded by family left to be with her beloved Doug 
     on November 14, 2016, She is survived by her sons Kevin and 
     Keith Hicks, Rochester, NY; her daughter Santhea Hicks Brown; 
     (Honorable Alvin Brown), Florida two grandsons, Joshua Andrew 
     and Jordan Latham Brown, her siblings William Gray, Jr. 
     (Alice), Regina Grayson (Ed), Claudine Cottom (Jim), Hattie 
     Hicks (Don), and Lillian Jones (Irving); nieces, nephews and 
     extended family, church family and many friends.
       Ann will be remembered as a loving wife, mother, 
     grandmother and a child of God.

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