Joy Charlene McKinney Hicks

Joy Charlene McKinney Hicks, 75, of Sanford went to be with the Lord on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, following complications from anesthesia. She fought hard, and her vitality was undeniable, but her heart was simply unable to surmount the challenges it faced. 

Charlene was born to the late Dr. William “Bill” McKinney and Robbie Shuford McKinney in the summer of 1949. Her father and mother were both born into large families, so Charlene and her sister, Donna, grew up with an extended family that loved as big as it was large. Her father served as a Baptist minister and this caused them to move fairly frequently. This seemed to suit her naturally adventurous soul and she always enjoyed meeting new people. After graduating high school, she moved with her family to Lawndale, NC before she left to attend Wake Forest University to study Education and French.

That summer, she met her soulmate, Charlie. They began dating during that year and thus began a love story for the ages. They grew devoted to each other and married after graduating from college in 1971. They were married on a Saturday, and Charlie entered pilot training on the following Monday. They went on their honeymoon to Hawaii, 50 years later. They spent 54 years together facing the challenges of Air Force and Navy life, raising two children, Patrick and Christa, making homes in new and unfamiliar places around the world, and loving each other fiercely while dealing with the natural ups and downs of life and family. 

Charlene was the glue that held everything together. She effortlessly managed the house and kids when Charlie was flying all over, and had strength left over to help friends and loved ones around her. She was the eternal optimist. Each time the military required another move, she approached it as an adventure, and taught her children to do the same. She worked for periods outside the home, balancing her jobs and interests with what was needed for her family. She poured her energy into raising her children when they were young, and began adding other work and interests as they grew and became more independent. She had a talent for pottery and felt a connection to working with clay and creating in this art form. She put her people skills to good use as a real estate agent for a while. She also fully honed her people skills when she earned her Master’s Degree in Human Relations. And, sprinkled throughout, she poured her love and skill into teaching young minds about English, French, and life. 

Her list of attributes are many and include all the standard ones: kind, beautiful, smart, funny, loving. But she was also so much more: intuitive, genuine, courageous, faithful, vital, curious, resilient, and charming. She had a gift for finding the wonder in small things and remembering to slow down and take time for things that mattered. She loved watching sunsets and birds in her front yard, working cross words and puzzles, eating ice cream, sitting in a Parisian café with a kir and observing the comings and goings, exercising her mind, growing flowers, traveling, chocolate (the darker the better), ocean waves and pelicans and long walks on the beach, watching college basketball, reading blogs (and getting to know about the bloggers themselves), sitting with Charlie on the back porch and discussing everything under the sun….the list goes on. 

There is a needlepoint in her kitchen that came from her parents’ house, and it reads, “Called to listen to the needs of others, even those unspoken.” This was Charlene’s true calling, and she met it relentlessly. In her later years, she loved spending time with her kids, Patrick and Christa, and their spouses--frequently checking in, discussing any number of topics, sharing laughs and stories, remaining ready to help at any time, and listening….always listening. She also loved her grandkids deeply--Fiona, Sean, Remy, and Rosie--and spent time getting to know them. She poured love into them as much as possible—giving the best hugs, baking the best Grandma rolls, showing up for games and events, remembering all the little things that matter to children but that so many adults ignore, and giving them gifts, even at small holidays, lovingly wrapped with the care she put into everything. She recognized them as individuals, and really tried to understand who they were at their core. She loved them so much. She also spent much of her time pouring love into people in her church and community—making phone calls to check in and just chat, sitting with those who were homebound, baking cookies, and giving of her time and self to meet a need. She had an uncommon gift for listening and an abiding interest in understanding people---not just out of curiosity, but to learn how to better love them. And, of course, spending her time with her Charlie—loving him and sharing of herself in their life together. Forever faithful. 

She is having a Heavenly reunion with friends and family that have gone before, and is waiting with open arms to once again hug her husband, Charlie Hicks; son Patrick Hicks and wife Sidney; daughter Christa Joy Rice and husband James; grand children Fiona Hicks, Sean Hicks, Remy Rice, and Rosie Joy Rice; sister-in-law Mary Ivester, sister Donna Heiser and husband Chuck; niece and nephew, Kimberly and Jason, and their families, and many dear aunts, uncles, and cousins. 

Memorials in her honor can be made to two organizations that were dear to her heart, Tunnels to Towers, Tunnel to Towers Foundation, 2361 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island, NY 10306  and Hope Ministries of North Wilkesboro, 514 Elkin Highway
North Wilkesboro, NC 28659.