- Date Of Birth: October 2, 1917
- Date Of Death: January 19, 2013
- State: Maryland
REMEMBERING THE LIFE OF OLIVIA RUDD HICKS
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith…”
2 Timothy 4:7
In the early morning hours of January 19, 2013, Olivia Rudd Hicks was called home to be with the Lord. Olivia, the fourth of nine children and beloved daughter of Della and Lewis Rudd, was born in Courtland, Mississippi on October 2, 1917.
“Momma Lil” (as she was affectionately called by her granddaughter Cynthia, Cynthia’s friends and all the children on Patton Lane) attended school and grew up in Courtland, Mississippi on a farm where she and her three brothers and five sisters performed the many tasks required. She accepted Christ at an early age at Salem Baptist Church and served there as an usher.
In the late 1930s, Olivia married Zelna Hicks and they moved to Batesville, Mississippi. To this union, three children were born, in addition to her oldest son. Olivia settled happily into marriage and motherhood. She made clothes without needing to use patterns. She often kept those clothes clean using her own homemade lye soap. She also made quilts and was an excellent cook. Some of her best dishes included fried chicken, butter rolls, pies, rice pudding, and biscuits all made from scratch. Not only her children, but many others enjoyed her cooking when she worked in the high school cafeteria in Batesville, when she worked as a domestic worker, and when she provided food for activities at her church.
Olivia was a faithful member of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, serving in numerous ministries. She was a “Mother” in the church, a member of the Trustee Board and a member of the Missionary Society. She also taught Sunday School for more than ten years, touching the lives of many, many young children. She loved all of her work at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church.
One of her favorite hobbies was walking. She experienced the joy and healthful benefits of walking long before doctors began prescribing it to their patients. Many of the children in Batesville called her “the Walking Lady.
Olivia was always involved in her families’ lives. She took her role as a mother seriously and was always teaching her children, nieces, nephews, the neighborhood children, and anyone else she encountered lessons about hard work, faith, and life. Her children were her pride and joy – she delighted in their accomplishments, especially her daughter earning a doctorate degree and becoming a professor at a University (Howard University). During her final days, despite her declining health, the presence of her child and grandchild never failed to bring a smile to her face.
Olivia (Momma Lil) will be sorely missed and lovingly remembered by her son, Mose Langston (Omaha, Nebraska); her daughter, Dr. Margaret Hicks (Washington, DC); grandchildren, Cynthia Denise Leland (Greenbelt, Maryland), Casey White (Colorado Springs, Colorado), and Michael Jones (Florence, South Carolina); siblings, Corine Lee (Memphis, Tennessee) and L.T. Rudd (Sumter, South Carolina); a host of cousins, nieces, nephews, friends and extended family: Sabrina Byrd, Nylsa Figueroa, Sonya George, Cynthia’s friends and the children who grew up on Patton Lane who lovingly called her “Momma Lil.” Two of her children, Andrew and Velma Marie, preceded her in death.
