"Lee Hicks was born in Seguin, Texas on Februrary 20, 1923, to Boyce Hicks and Lila Greenwood Hicks, the seventh of their nine children. He spent his early childhood at the family's farm near Waelder, Texas, established by his grandfather, Lafayette Hicks, who had been brought to Texas in 1846 as a child with his parents Plumer and Chaney Hicks by Fredonia Harman Hicks and Aretus Hicks, settlers in Lavaca County, Texas from Henderson, Tennessee.  In 1933, the Boyce Hicks family re-located to Seguin from the Waelder farm, and Lee attended schools in Seguin, graduating from Ball High School in 1941. He then completed two years of college at St. Philip's College in San Antonio, receiving his Diploma before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps in 1943, among the first African-Americans to serve in the Corps.  Following training at Montford Point, Camp Lejuene, North Carolina, he served at Camp Pendleton and in the Pacific Theater, chiefly engaged in the transport of other black enlisted personnel from Hawaii to forward positions as the war carried deeper into the Pacific.  This was a time when African-Americans could serve only as enlisted troops in the Marine Corps.  He was an excellent Marine and reached the rank of Staff Sergeant, mustering out of the Corps in 1946.  Returning to Texas, Lee enrolled at Tillotsen College in Austin, where he was to meet Cora Eiland, his future wife, while completing his B.A. studies under the G.I. Bill.  Lee Hicks and Cora Eiland married on December 27, 1949, and continued living in Austin, where their first child, Gregory Alan, was born.  Following a two-year stay in Washington, D.C. to be close to Cora's family, and where their second child, Eric Michael was born, Lee and Cora returned to Austin, where Lee joined the staff of Rosewood Elementary School as a 6th grade teacher and also began years of service as a leader in the Boy Scouts. He gave direction to the lives of countless young men and was often a surrogate father to them. The late 1950s and early 1960s were an important period of social change in Austin, and Lee Hicks, through his membership at St. James Episcopal Church and his friendships with leading progressives in Austin, including Mary and Chester Koock, owners of Green Pastures restaurant, lawyers Jean and Sterling Holloway, and the Reverend Louis E. Buck of St. James Episcopal Church, took an important role.  He served as chair of the Austin Commission on Human Relations, a citizens organization that helped lead Austin to a remarkably peaceful and voluntary de-segregation of movie theaters, restaurants and other places of public accommodation. The participation of leading businessmen, most notably Harry Akin, founder and owner of the iconic Nighthawk restaurants, was an essential part of that process. Lee's work as a teacher and civic leader, and especially his remarkable gifts as a mediator and as a chair who could "read a room,” led him in 1966 to a position at the Texas State Teachers Association.  For the next 25 years, until his retirement, he traveled the roads and highways of Texas for the TSTA. His main focus was the delicate work of guiding the integration of the teaching and administrative staffs of dozens of school districts, as "separate-but-equal" school systems were swept away, and staffs and schools were combined.  In this difficult work, Lee Hicks earned the respect, admiration and affection of many hundreds of teachers and school administrators whose paths he crossed.  He was cherished by them for his warmth, his humor, his wisdom, and his truly extraordinary skills as a listener.  He was usually able to identify a path forward, and he helped make many schools and school districts better places. Following his retirement, Lee Hicks bought a country place near the original Hicks farmstead. He was a member of Waelder's library board, hosted community gatherings at his place, delivered meals to the housebound, and helped his neighbors. He also tried, quixotically and without much success, to establish a pecan grove in the dry gravelly soils of his country place, but was ultimately successful with 2 catfish ponds which flourished. Always a country man, he loved the land and its creatures. He was a strong swimmer who loved the water, an avid left-handed golfer who played to a scratch or low-digit handicap that served him well in many tournaments, and, a regular participant in Austin’s Capitol 10K run.  Lee and Cora Hicks were a remarkable couple who lived lives filled with service, energy, and distinction in their professions, and who contributed much to life in Austin.  Lee Hicks is survived by his sons, Greg and Eric, and by his grandsons, Henry, Lee, and Sam, who knew and loved him. Cora, his wife of 64 years, predeceased him on November 5th, 2013, at the age of 94.” Lee was the longest lived of his 8 siblings and was predeceased by his brothers: Buddy, Ellis, Charles, Royce, Tommy, Clayton; and sisters: Elise and Maxine.