Janet Hicks, 86, of Casper, passed away Sept. 25, 2010 at the Life Care Center.

She was the biological mother of The Rev. Roger Hawthorne, twice interm pastor of The Winter Memorial Presbyterian Church in Casper.

She was born July 16, 1924 in Sheridan, WY, one of three children born to Roy Leon and Mary (Pelissier) Haywood.

In 1942, Janet married Melvin Hawthorne in Hardin, Montana because both were too young to marry in Wyoming. They had one son, Roger, and two years later divorced.

She had a brief second marriage which she never discussed.

Her third marriage was to an abusive alcoholic and in order to protect her son, she arranged for his father to raise him. During that marriage, she moved to Fort Worth, Texas where she worked in the billing department for Sinclair Oil. At the age of 42, she and her entire department were replaced by a computer.

She trained to be an LPN, but worked as a medical records technician in the oncology department at a Greeley, Colorado hospital and after her retirement for an oncologist in Fort Collins.

In 1970 she married Harold Hicks of Greeley and moved there. After he retired, they moved to Farmington, New Mexico where he died in 1997, two years after moving there. She moved to Casper, then for five years lived with her niece Cheryl Gulley in Wright. Her declining health required her to move to Garden Square in Casper, later to the Life Care Center.

She is survived by her son, The Rev. Roger Hawthrone and his wife Jacki Zandi, her brother Gordon Haywood of Newcastle, WY, numerous nieces, nephews, other family members and friends.

She was a member of Winter Memorial Presbyterian Church. Arrangements under the direction of Newcomer Funeral Home.

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