Tim Hicke

Timothy Haven Hicke was born October 28, 1943 to parents S.F. and Beverly Hicke in LaCrosse, WI.  He was the third oldest of eight children. Tim grew up under the preaching and teaching of his father. He felt the Lord also calling him to a life of preaching and service at a young age. Tim recently recounted the story of his calling when he was just 12 years old. "My father was preaching a sermon and said, 'There may be someone here today who is being called to preach.' I stood up and I said, 'It’s me!' And I haven’t wanted anything else since.”  Tim’s family lived in several cities in Illinois until he graduated from high school in 1961 from Astoria High School in Astoria, IL.

After high school graduation, Tim attended Vennard College in University Park, IA. He alternated attending school and taking time off to earn money to continue his education. He worked numerous jobs during this time, including milking cows at a dairy, farmhand work, truck driving, and working on campus in the dining hall.

Tim met his help-meet and the love of his life, Marilyn Diane Poston, in the Spring semester of 1964 at Vennard College.  Their daughter, Pamela, remembers her father often telling her the story when she was growing up.  “I saw your mother walking across campus one day and I said, ‘I’ve got to get to know her!’”  After asking her several times for a date, Marilyn finally consented to their first date in the Summer of 1964.  They were married June 10, 1967 at the Pond Creek Congregational Methodist Church in Alamo, TN. Nowadays, when seeing Marilyn, he would say, “Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

After graduating from Vennard College in Spring of 1969, Tim pastored his first church in Waller, TX. Throughout his career, he pastored churches in Oklahoma, where their daughter, Pamela Christine, was born in 1973, and in California, Washington State, and Texas.  He was a founding member of the Bethel Methodist Church in 1989. In 2002, he received his final call to preach at the Bethel Methodist Church of Port Neches, TX, where he lived until his death. At every church, Tim and Marilyn were involved in numerous summer youth camps and VBS’s. He had a profound impact on adults and children alike over the span of his career.

He loved to laugh and was always ready with a ‘punny’ joke, dad joke, or riddle. (His family and friends will be happy to explain how half of twelve makes seven.)  He enjoyed fishing, and, in later years, loved taking his grandchildren down to the river park to fish. He had a love for helping people and could strike up a conversation with just about anyone, often finding out their life story after a short time. He was knowledgeable about car repairs and did numerous vehicle repairs for friends and family.  He enjoyed talking about classic cars, many of which either he or his siblings had owned at one time or another. He believed that the Buick was the best car ever made, specifically his Buicks. He enjoyed choral singing and quartet singing. He traveled with various quartets in college and sang in the Irving Chorale in later years. Thanks to his son-in-law, Rick, he discovered a love for working on and building computers and helped many people with computer problems. He was a butter connoisseur, a flashlight aficionado, and could tell you the difference between various classic cars, down to the tail-light assembly and hubcaps. He would work diligently to fix a rattling noise in his car, even if no one else was bothered by it. He loved fixing things, even if they didn’t need fixing.

After a brief battle with cancer, Tim passed away peacefully at his home in Port Neches, TX very early on the morning of Tuesday, April 23, 2024.  He is preceded in death by his parents, S.F. Hicke and Beverly, and brother Alan Hicke.  He is survived by his siblings Nancy Hicke Pilger of Ipava, IL, Dave Hicke and wife June of Glassford, IL, Tom Hicke and wife Lila of Ottawa, IL, Judy Hicke Rugg and husband Doug of New Port Richey, FL, Joel Hicke and wife Kathy of Seward, IL, and Don Hicke of Chattanooga, TN. He is also survived by his wife, Marilyn of Port Neches, TX, their daughter Pamela Hicke Piersall and husband Rick of Abilene, TX, and grandchildren, Andrew and Trey Piersall, of Abilene, TX.

Services will be held on Monday, May 20, 2024 at 1pm at the Bethel Methodist Church of Port Neches, 1125 Wilson Street, Port Neches, TX. The service will also be live-streamed from www.pbfuneraldirectors.com, under the live-stream section, at 1pm CST. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Gideon Bibles. Tim steadfastly believed in spreading the Word of God.