Tommy Hicks Named Citizen of The Year

Photo of Tommy Hicks Provided By: Jan B. Sailors

Tommy Hicks was recently named 2018 Citizen Of The Year by the Forest City Kiwanis Club. It may have been the first time in 83 years that the award was given posthumously. Former recipients: Judy Toney, Joanne Eaker, Doug Pearson, Chris Burley, Tom and LaVerne Walker, Mary Sander Costner were on hand as were three of Hicks's best buds, Keith Harrill, Mike Nanney and Johnny Carson. Lifelong friend Pat Jobe was a little bit overwhelmed to accept the award on his behalf. His sisters and other family members were out of town for the presentation and would have loved to have attended the ceremony. They were thrilled with the news.

The Kiwanis Club praised Hicks for raising thousands of dollars for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, through both his tread-a-thons and golf tournaments. He was also praised for meeting with the families of young people diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, and telling these young people not to let the disease define their lives. He told them, "You can do anything you want with your lives." He was also given high marks for his work as a substitute teacher and a promoter of good causes in Rutherford County as publisher of The Amazin' Shopper.