Funeral services for Mr. Willie S. Hicks, 75, of 764 Bramble Lane, Orangeburg, will be held 11:00 AM Saturday, August 31, 2019 at Olive Grove Baptist Church, 305 Old Elloree Road, Orangeburg, with interment to follow in Belleville Memorial Gardens. Reverend James Cromartie is officiating.

Mr. Hicks will be placed in the church one hour prior to the service.

Willie Samuel Hicks, the eighth child of Lovant and Jaime Odom Hicks, was born January 9, 1944 in Blackville, South Carolina. He was called home to his Lord and Savior on August 26, 2019.

Sam grew up in the Blackville area and was a 1962 graduate of Blackville-Hilda High School. He accepted Christ at a young age, becoming a member of Macedonia Baptist Church.

Over the course of the next few years, he met and married Lala Bee Wright. After marrying Lala in 1966, the Army sent him to Vietnam, where he was involved in active combat. Upon leaving the Army in 1969, they moved back to South Carolina and settled in the Orangeburg area, where he attended Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College. In 1970, they welcomed their son, Brian Keith. In 1974, Sam moved his family to the Atlanta area, where he remained until returning to Orangeburg in 2002.

Sam and Lala were long-time members of Warren Chapel Baptist Church, but most recently became members at Olive Grove Missionary Baptist Church.

Sam never forgot where he came from. He was generous and giving of himself. He possessed an incredible ability to just sit and listen. He loved a good joke or anecdote. Many of you have shared that his laughter is one of your fondest memories.

Sam was preceded in death by his brothers: James, Lovant Jr., Nathaniel, and Josephus; and his sisters: Clara Greggs and Zelma Ephriam.

He leaves to cherish fond memories: his wife, Lala; his son, Brian (Mary) Hicks; three grandchildren: Jordan, Elaine and Danielle; two great-grandchildren Avaya and Anthony; one sister, Mary (George) Perry; three sisters-In-Law: Gloria Hicks, Laura Hicks and Dorothy Black; one brother-In-law, Charles Wright; and a host of nieces, nephews, grand nieces and grand nephews, cousins, church family and friends.

Visitation will be held Friday, August 30, 2019 from 1:00pm -8:00pm.

Friends may call at the residence of his wife, Lala Hicks, son, Brian Hicks, and sister, Mary Perry, 764 Bramble Lane, Orangeburg or Simmons Funeral Home and Crematory of Orangeburg.