PULLMAN, Wash. — Family and friends of Maynard Hicks have planned a program Sunday, Aug. 6, to celebrate the life of the long-time Washington State University faculty member, who died May 5.
The 3 p.m. public program is set for Compton Union Building’s Cascade Room.
He and his wife, Demy, moved to Pullman in 1937, where he worked as a WSU journalism professor for 35 years.
Hicks taught journalism courses and advised the office of Student Publications, which produces the Daily Evergreen, WSU’s student newspaper, and the Chinook yearbook. He also advised the student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, at that time known as Sigma Delta Chi. He had a long association with the society, dating back to the 1920s. He served as its national vice president for undergraduate affairs and a member of its national executive committee in 1959-60. During that time, he was a strong voice for a complete restructuring of the society, which was in dire straights. He was considered a major player in revitalizing and saving the organization.
After his WSU retirement, he taught at Western Washington University in Bellingham and California State University at Fullerton, before taking a position at California State University at Northridge, where he spent 13 years. In the late 1980s, the Hicks returned to Pullman and he maintained an office in WSU’s Edward R. Murrow School of Communication.
Hicks was active in the Kiwanis Club for more than 50 years and is a member of the Pullman Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame. He was a member of St. Episcopal Church in Pullman for more than half a century.
The Murrow School of Communication has established the Maynard F. Hicks Memorial Scholarship for Undergraduate Students in Communication. Donations may be made by sending a check written to the WSU Murrow School of Communication, Pullman, WA 99164-2520. Checks should include “Maynard Hicks” in the memo section.
