Jerry Lynn Hicks volunteered.
Just 19 years old and a year after his 1967 graduation from Courter Tech High School in Clifton – today the site of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College – he enlisted in the Army and served in Vietnam.
Mr. Hicks, 64, died Aug. 17. He had recently retired.
“He had this attitude that if you weren’t going to do it right, then don’t bother to do it at all,” said Lynee Hicks Campos of North Avondale, one of his three surviving children.
“He enjoyed the challenge of being told he couldn’t do something.”
He enlisted in the military because he liked the challenge and loved his country.
“He was proud to be an American, and I heard him express that many times,” Campos said.
“He was very proud to have lived to see (Barack Obama) become president.”
At Courter Tech, he was named an all-state gymnast and specialized in three events: pommel horse, ring and floor exercise.
While in the Army, Mr. Hicks served in the 1st Provisional Rifle Co. 173, rising to the rank of sergeant.
He married in 1979 and went on to the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, where he graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in urban planning.
Then he went to work at Procter & Gamble before switching careers, entering the real estate industry, where he worked for two companies before starting his own agency, Hicks Properties.
Over the years, Mr. Hicks acquired a portfolio of 27 multifamily residential rental properties and more than 100 rental units.
From custom building his family home in North Avondale to representing his own family members in the purchase of their first homes, Mr. Hicks’ mission, his family says, was to help buyers find homes that would play a role in helping them build stability and memories.
“He was so confident in his ability and his work ethic,” Campos, an attorney with GE Aviation, said of her father.
“We learned that from him.
“We have all become successful.”
In addition to his daughter, Mr. Hicks is survived by his wife, Wanda; sons Marquis of Jacksonville, Fla., and Michael of Clifton; and two grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by a son, Matthew, who died as an infant.
The funeral was at Greater New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Avondale.
He was buried with full military honors at Spring Grove Cemetery in Spring Grove Village.
Memorials can be made to Disabled American Veterans, 36 E. Seventh St., Cincinnati, OH 45202, 513-542-3201, dav.org. ■
For consideration in Lives Remembered, please send information and contact number to livesremembered@enquirer.com
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