Mrs. Debbie Hicks

MASKS ARE REQUIRED

Debbie Ann Cooper Hicks was born to Henry Allen Cooper and Louvenia McGee Cooper on December 7, 1961, in Jonesboro, Louisiana. The youngest of their six children, she was beloved by her older brothers and sisters, even though she was prone to spend her days playing with dolls on her grandmother’s back porch, leaving the big kids to do the chores.  She attended Choudrant Elementary and Choudrant High School where she graduated in 1979. At an early age, she gave her life to Christ and was baptized at St. Rest Baptist Church in Choudrant, Louisiana.

In 1980, she gave birth to one daughter, Brittney Cooper, her pride and joy. As a single mother, she was Brittney’s provider, protector, and fierce advocate. In 1996, she married the love of her life, Reverend Clarence L. Hicks, Sr. They did life and partnership together, celebrating their 26th wedding anniversary just three weeks before her passing. In her capacity as First Lady of Avenue Baptist Church, she served faithfully as treasurer of the Avenue Baptist Brotherhood Federal Credit Union, a position she took on with integrity and aplomb.

Debbie was many things to many people: a mother to motherless Black girls in her family and community, a generous donor to those in need, a team player at work, and a source of wise counsel to her friends and loved ones. She was exceedingly kind, very funny, always adventurous, could shop till she dropped, and was a rebel by nature but always with a cause. She believed in producing excellent and impeccable work across her 42 year career in the field of construction, most recently as construction coordinator for U.L. Coleman Company in Shreveport. In 2013, she completed her a lifelong dream of finishing college, graduating with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Phoenix.

Debbie liked her Diet Coke in a cold Yeti cup filled with ice. She always drank with a straw. She like her cars with more horsepower than average. A study in elegance, she only wore heels, didn’t own any denim, and believed a look was never complete until she had sprayed just a whiff of a lovely fragrance on her collar and wrists.

Debbie was preceded in death by her mother and father, her brother Larry Cooper and her sister Geraldine Cooper. She leaves to care for her memory, her husband Rev. Clarence Hicks, Sr. of Shreveport, her daughter Dr. Brittney Cooper of New Jersey, three sisters Mae G. Cooper of Houston, Colleen Cooper of Dallas, and Linda Richard (Sterling) of Ruston; one brother Barry Cooper of Choudrant; her favorite niece Ksenia (Kasey) Cooper of Shreveport; three children by marriage, Bridgett Simington, Bethany Hicks and Clarence L. Hicks, Jr., all of Dallas; five nephews, Courtney Cooper (Shinika) and Chad Richard (Ethel) of Ruston, Sterling L. Richard (Becky) of Dallas, Brandon Cooper and Larry Dewayne Marshall. She also leaves behind a host of other nieces, nephews, cousins, friends, and loved ones.  

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