Mary Jackson Hickerson
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Mary Jackson Hickerson of Grand Prairie, Texas, passed peacefully into the arms of her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ on Saturday, August 13, 2022. She was surrounded by her family.
Funeral: 11 a.m. Friday, August 17, 2022 at First United Methodist Church, 122 N Center Street, Grand Prairie, TX, 75050. Burial: Fairy Cemetery near Hico, TX.
Mary was born in the Ohio Community of Hamilton County on July 4, 1928, to her parents Johnnie T. Jackson and Valeria Jackson.
Her early days were spent helping her family on their farm, playing with her older brother, Vernon Jackson, and attending Fairy School. She was delighted in the addition of her two little sisters, Edna Louise Jackson and Gwendolyn Jean Jackson. She was baptized at age 12 in a stock tank, as was the custom in her community.
Shortly after her high school graduation, she married Louis Able of the Fairy Community. Louis had returned from WW II after being held in the Bataan Concentration Camp for 41 months. Mary was a loving wife and did everything in her power to help Louis recover after his unspeakable experience. She became a young widow when Louis passed away in the early 1960's.
In 1971, Mary married Jim Hickerson. They worked and lived in Grand Prairie. After 32 years as an aerospace librarian, she retired and they made a new home on Amon Carter Lake in Bowie, Texas. They were faithful members of the Carter Lake Road Church of Christ.
Following Jim's death, Mary returned to Grand Prairie to be closer to her family. Mary lived her life through faith and with resilience.
At age 12 she suffered a ruptured appendix and was rushed to the local hospital which was some 11 miles away. She barely survived. In the 1960s she was diagnosed with breast cancer but pulled through and recovered. In the late 1980's, Mary, along with her siblings were traveling to Hico each weekend to relieve the caregivers who were tending their aging parents. She experienced a car crash, breaking every bone in her face, a broken leg, several broken ribs and a lot of internal trauma. Doctors did not expect her to live but her faith and resilience pulled her through a long recovery.
In her later life people around her always commented on her warm smile and positive outlook. Few knew of her three near death experiences and she didn't talk about it unless someone asked.
Last month, Mary celebrated her 94 th birthday with family and friends once again filling her home with love and laughter. Faithful to the end, she led the prayer for our food and praised God for all His goodness.
Mary is survived by nieces Xanna Young (Dwayne), Jorja Clemson (Dan), Cynthia Smith (Hank), Vivian Vance (Herb Booth), nephews Jon Vance (Dean Weir), Tommy Seymour and Barry Seymour, stepson Jon Hickerson, stepdaughter Jo Ana Smith and many great-nieces and great-nephews.