Janet Hicks

Janet Nadine Hicks of rural Montour passed away peacefully on October 31, 2024, under the care of Compassus Hospice and the staff at Harmony Nursing Home in Marshalltown, where she had been living for about a year. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Vearl, and brother Dale Devig and his wife Shirley. She also leaves behind a sister and brother-in-law, Mary Jo and Dave McCurry, two McCurry nieces and their families, and three Devig nephews and their families, as well as many cousins and also relatives of Vearl’s whom she cherished. A graveside service for Janet will be held at the Maple Hill Cemetery in Montour, Iowa, at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, November 16.

Janet was born January 4, 1935, at home in Montour, Iowa, the first child of Gehard and Wilma Devig. After several years, the family moved to a farm in the Dunbar School district, where Janet met many new friends whom she treasured for a lifetime. Dunbar was a very small school, where the only competitive sport played against other schools was basketball. In the girls’ case it was 6-on-6 basketball. Janet was a good student, but basketball was probably her favorite school activity. She was a guard with so-called “sticky fingers,” meaning she had a knack for stealing the ball from the opposition and delivering it back to her teammates on the other end of the court. The Dunbar ViQueens were competitive in their conference. Even though available players were few, the Dunbar girls were a good team. In 1952, Janet’s senior year, she helped her team almost make it to the state tournament, but they were beaten in the last few hard-fought minutes of the final, exciting, very close game that would’ve sent them there. Dunbar fans were excitedly cheering them on and were justly proud of the girls’ performance, despite the loss.

Janet was a natural at farm living all her life. Growing up, she milked cows, fed the chickens, gathered the eggs, helped with gardening, and learned to drive a tractor to help out in the fields. She was a hard worker, never complaining about chores she was asked to do. Her favorite relaxation as a teenager was to ride her horse, Flicka, sometimes up the road to ride with a friend who also had a horse. Like most farm girls of that time, she detasseled corn in the summers, and soon she was given the responsible job as driver of the machine that carried the crew through the fields.

On September 3, 1954, Janet married a transplanted Missourian, Vearl “Buck” Hicks, who promised to keep her in the country life that she loved. After a few years of farm workers as renters, they bought their own farm, where she milked cows, raised chickens, tended her garden, and built fences along with Vearl. Even with all the outdoor work she did, she always found time to cook tasty meals. Janet’s father, Ge, came across the ocean from Norway when he was 3 years old. Her mother, Wilma, also had Norwegian immigrant parents, so Janet learned early how to make Norwegian treats like Kumla, Lefse, and Kringle. Every year, Janet and Vearl would invite friends to a “chicken fry,” where they would deep-fry several of their home-grown chickens in a barrel of oil over a fire. The guests would bring side dishes to add to the meal. It was in a pleasant outdoor setting they owned, where people could walk through the woods and sightsee or search for mushrooms, after the meal, although most folks preferred to sit and visit.

I can’t imagine how Janet found time for entertaining herself with all the chores she did, but there were definitely things she enjoyed, like listening to WHO talk radio while working in the kitchen. She was an avid reader of Farm Journal and other farm/livestock magazines, as well as health advice books. She had an old upright piano and a lot of sheet music from her teen years. Sometimes when I visited her, we’d enjoy playing and singing a rollicking duet version of “Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain” from an early piano lesson book. Janet liked doing jigsaw puzzles, taking pictures (but not being in them, as her neighbor and good friend Mark can tell you), and taking hikes to view the wildlife, wildflowers, and cows in green pastures on the farm. Field crops were not her thing. She was very proud of her green farm. She loved all farm animals, but above all, she loved her cats, especially after Vearl passed, when she really needed their company.

Janet was somewhat shy, not an outgoing person by nature, but she enjoyed getting to know people. When new folks moved into her farm community, she’d often welcome them with homemade food. Many became dear friends, and she was unhappy when they moved away. Some of them gave her touching hand-made cards or memory books to entertain and remind her of their friendship when they departed.

We’ll miss Janet but are so fortunate to have known her as a friend or relative during her hard-working life! May she Rest In Peace in Heaven. We hope there’s some green there!

Written by Janet’s sister, Mary Jo McCurry