Jean M. Hickey's Obituary
Jean Mary (Kitos) Hickey passed away peacefully in her sleep in Tacoma, WA, on July 9, 2020, forty-four years to the day after her husband, Lawrence T. Hickey, died. She was born in Minneapolis, MN, on March 11, 1923, to Richard J. Kitos, originally from Denmark, and Ellen L. (McGinn) Kitos, from Minnesota. When Jean was three years old she moved with her family to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and two years later to Regina where she attended elementary and high school. Following high school she studied stenography, and at 20 years of age moved to Vancouver, British Columbia.
Jean joined the US Women’s Army Corps and served as a WAC in Vienna, Austria, during the post-war occupation. There in 1948 she met and married Larry, and during his 32-year military career lived at West Point, New York; Heidelberg and Bad Tölz, Germany; Fort Ord, California; Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana; Ft. Lewis, and Lakewood, Washington State. She worked for several years at Madigan Army Hospital, traveled the world with family and friends, and walked daily up to the day of her passing.
Following Larry’s death in 1976 she relocated to White Rock, BC, to be close to her siblings, and subsequently moved to Seton Villa Retirement Home in Burnaby, BC where her own parents had once lived. In July 2019, after a 34 years absence, she returned to Lakewood, WA.
Jean was predeceased by her parents, her brother Richard Kitos and sister Helen (Kitos) Bezdan, and is survived by her own children Paul (Ruth Anne), Mary, and Mike Hickey as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren, nephews and nieces in the U.S. and Canada, and by her own siblings Paul, Barbara and Ralph (Mary) Kitos
A graveside service will be held at Mountain View Memorial Park, Lakewood, WA, at 11:30 am, Wednesday, July 29, 2020.
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