Naomi Wicks
(May 9, 1922 - August 19, 2015)
Naomi Wicks, 93 of Redfield, SD passed away on August 19, 2015 at the Community Memorial Hospital in Redfield, SD.
Funeral Services will be Thursday, August 27, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. at the United Methodist Church in Redfield. Reverend Marty Toepke-Floyd will officiate.
After a time for lunch and fellowship her cremains will be buried in the Richland Cemetery north of Carpenter, SD. www.thelenfuneralhome.com
Naomi “Nonie” Wicks was born May 9, 1922 to Byron and Alma (Meisner) Wolverton on a farm south of Doland, SD. She attended rural grade school near Doland and then Doland High School and the Sprague Hospital School of Nursing in Huron. She graduated with honors from both of those institutions. Nonie worked at the hospital. On December 19, 1943 she and high school schoolmate Kenneth Wicks were married at the Sedalia Chapel on Sedalia Army Base in Missouri. During the Army years they lived in Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina and Texas. Kenneth had enlisted in the air corps in 1941 prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. During his five years of duty he was sent to the China, Burma and the India theater operations. Upon his discharge in 1946 they rented and later purchased a farm south of Doland, SD which is still in the possession of the family.
Nonie did general duty nursing in various hospitals, where Kenneth was stationed. Before the advent of ICU units in hospitals, she also did private duty nursing in Huron and Redfield. She was often called upon to give short term care to neighbors in the community and to accompany patients to the Mayo Clinic and the hospitals in Rochester, MN. With the advent of Medicare, she was director of nursing at an extended care facility in Redfield for 5 years. While farming Kenneth had also been a salesman for Pioneer Seeds International. He subsequently became a district sales manager for that company and they moved to Redfield and then to Mobridge, SD. With the move to Mobridge, Nonie thought she would retire from nursing; however she received a call from the South Dakota Department of Health with a challenging offer. For 10 years she traveled the state as a hospital and nursing home inspector for the Medicare, Medicaid and state licensure programs. During that period she also completed a specialized college course at the University of New Hampshire in 1971. After 100’s of thousands of miles of driving, she retired from nursing in 1979.
Kenneth and Nonie remained close to their friends in business and in the communities where they had lived. During Kenneth’s employment with Pioneer they had occasions to take several trips to the majority of the European countries, Jamaica, Hawaii and Alaska. They did extensive travel on their own in the United States and spend 12 winters in Arizona. Kenneth passed away in April of 2000 and Nonie had remained in her home in Mobridge until 2014 when she moved to the Eastern Star Home in Redfield.
Nonie loved reading, playing cards, flowers, poetry, sewing including quilts, cooking and collecting recipes, working crossword puzzles and collecting in general, especially dishes.
Through the years she was active in her community; served on her Spink County township board and was a Spink County 4-H leader; she was baptized at and was a member of the Doland Methodist Church. Subsequently she was a long time member of the United Congregational Church, its women’s fellowship and for 20 years was in the church choir. She was a member of the Order of The Eastern Star and was a past matron of that chapter. She belonged to the Mobridge Hospital Auxiliary, the Arts and Travel Club and several bridge clubs. She was a share holder of the Mobridge Country Club, and in 1985 she was honored by the Mobridge Jaycees with the Outstanding Woman’s Award.
Nonie had a ready smile and an unassuming nature, but those who knew her best always knew her viewpoint on issues at hand.
She is survived by two daughters Charlotte (Kenneth) Smith of McKinney, TX and Trudy (Rick) of Reno Nevada; four grandchildren.
Preceding her in death were her parents, her husband Kenneth and a brother Maurice Wolverton.
Memorials may be sent to the North Central Humane Society in Aberdeen.