As she celebrated her 100th birthday on April 13, Mary Hicks has a motto for living a long life.

“Live moderately, don’t drink too much, don’t eat too much, be kind to people and don’t eat too many Peeps,” the Bellflower resident said.

Friends and family members stopped by Hicks Store on April 13 to celebrate Hicks’ 100th birthday. Cake and donuts were offered at the celebration.

“It was great,” Hicks said.

Hicks has four children, nine grandchildren – three of them are deceased – and 10 great-grandchildren. Son Ted Hicks shares managing duties with his son, Andy, at Hicks Store.

Daughter Kay Ravenscraft said her mother enjoys staying active. Hicks is a member of the Take It Easy (TIE) Club, which is a group of women from around the Montgomery County area that has lunch and plays bingo together.

“She’s doing really good,” she said. “She enjoys watching her TV, reads magazines a little bit and does a lot of puzzles.”

When Hicks turned 70, she went snow skiing for the first time.

“We took her to a lesson on the first day,” Ted Hicks said. “We told her to put sunscreen on because she will get sunburn. She didn’t listen to us. The next day, she was supposed to go back for her second lesson. She woke up and her eyes were swollen shut. So she didn’t get to ski for the rest of the week.”

Hicks was born on April 13, 1923 in Staunton, Ill., to a coal mining father, six years before the Great Depression began. She is the only surviving child of four.

“When she was growing up, the house she stayed in had two bedrooms,” Ravenscraft said. “There were four kids and two adults. There was no water and no laundry inside the house. It was crazy.”

Hicks said her father would walk three miles to work every day since there was no transportation at the time.

“He got up at 3 o’clock in the morning, fixed breakfast for my mother and went on to work,” Hicks said.

Hicks’ first job was at Principia College in Elsah, Ill. She later moved to St. Louis, where she worked at the Federal Reserve Bank in the downtown area.

Hicks said one of the favorite parts of living in St. Louis was going to the night clubs.

“They used to have stage shows and big bands,” she said.
Mary Hicks was one of eight members from the Hicks family who helped operate Hicks Store since it opened in 1946. Glen and Marquerite Hicks operated the store for the first nine years before Mary and husband Jack moved to Bellflower to help out with the business. Mary and Jack took over managing duties during the 1960s.

When Jack died in 1982, Mary shared managing duties with son Ted for years. She retired in 2019.

“Until 2019, she will come in and open the store,” Ted said. “Then, she would go home. She would come in the morning, have coffee, then open things up.”

Mary Hicks moved to Bellflower in 1955. After almost 70 years, she still enjoys living in the small town.

“It’s my home,” she said.