Billy Earl Wicks

Billy Earl Wicks was born in Huron Kansas on August 3rd 1935 to his Mother Lorena Faye Sheeley and his Father Earl Wicks. He became the second child in a large brood that eventually included 13 siblings: His older sister Leila, younger sisters Betty, Myrth, Marie, Beverly, Barb, and Earlene, his younger brothers Roy, Jay Don, Sherland Dean, Jerry, Gary and Larry.

This large family settled on a farm near Salina Kansas where his Father, Earl, worked the farm and operated a barbershop. His mother spent her days working as an upholsterer and creating works of Americana using macrame/yarn, leftover cans and empty egg cartons, all the while herding the boisterous hatch of children.

Bill left the farm in July 1954 at the age of 19 and used his auto mechanic and carpentry skills in the Marine Corp on a small island named Canton, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Near a tiny airstrip built to support troops during WWII he built and maintained both equipment and structures in support of operations in Korea.

After his enlistment ended in July 1957 he used his skills in carpentry, which he had enhanced on the island and joined the Carpenters Union in Monterey, CA. Here he met and married his first love Joy Eleanor Cook in 1961 and had a child in 1965 Billy Earl Wicks, Jr. Joy unfortunately passed away in 1970. He later married a friend of Joy, Alice Berniger in 1971 but was divorced soon after in 1973. He moved from Monterey in 1973 to Taft CA where he joined his brother Jay Don doing upholstery and carpentry. He spent the next several decades until his passing in 2024 using the skills he learned in the military to help and make friends in Taft and the surrounding area. Here he met Helen West and was married in 1976 in Maricopa where they lived happily until Helen’s passing in 1994. He would gamble on love one last time and marry Geraldine in 1997. His “retirement” was spent building wooden bird houses, mail boxes and rocking horses and talking to folks who would drop in at the garage on Wood St.

For many decades children descended, with loads of grandchildren and great grandchildren, on that rural farm in Kansas like so many locusts, packed tightly in American iron station wagons and other vehicles. Quickly they would exhaust their grandparents and create mischief exploring the haystacks in the barn or abuse the hand cranked water pump in the yard. One of those mischief seekers, Bill’s granddaughter Rikki F., took care of Bill and his wife Geraldine for the past few years, a daughter from another mother so to speak.. Another grandson, Jared H., Bill loved like a second son and picked up Bill’s construction knowledge while working on jobs with Bill.

Bill is survived by his wife Geraldine, his son John, his step son Glenn, his sister(s) Leila, Earlene, Barb and Betty, his brother(s) Gary, Jerry and Larry. He is preceded in passing by his parents Earl and Lorena, his previous wives Joy, Alice and Helen, his step sons Steven, Danny and Larry, his step daughters Sandy and Jhonna, his sister(s) Beverley, Myrth and Marie and brother(s) Sherland Dean and Jay Don. To list all the grandchildren and great grandchildren would be a task of Biblical proportions but they should all know that Bill loved them.

Anyone not explicitly named here is not a failing of Bill, but of me, his son John, who is unable to find the words to express how truly thankful I am for everyone in my extended family.

Our Erickson & Brown Funeral staff would like to thank Mr. Wicks and his family for their service and sacrifices, which allowed us to live in a free country.
Thank you for your service.

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