Maxie Audine Sickles, loving mother and grandmother, passed away peacefully in her sleep, Saturday morning, May 16, 2020, due to complications of atherosclerosis. A family graveside service will be held on July 4th weekend. Memorials: In lieu of flowers, the family suggest that you may send a donation to the Abilene Christian University JH Richards Scholarship Fund, Christian Homes and Services of Abilene Texas and Mission Printing in Arlington Texas.
Maxie was born December 27, 1933, in Fort Worth, Texas to Chris Baccus and Roberta Richards Baccus Snow, of Fort Worth, Texas. Maxie was very proud of her Fort Worth family and heritage. Her mother passed away when Maxie was 4 from influenza. She was raised by her grandparents, J.H. and Vianna Richards, Sr. They provided her a wonderful place to grow up and thrive. She always credited the great life she had to them and their influence. She was an excellent student and had a wonderful outlook on life and Faith. She graduated as Valedictorian of Polytechnic High School. She went on to graduate from Abilene Christian College in 1955 with a degree in Education. She was president of the W club, the Womens Service Club. Maxie was awarded the Trustees Award for her scholastic and extracurricular performance her senior year. She had a beautiful alto voice and sang in the ACU chorus. She met her husband, Blake, at ACU, in the chorus. They shared a love of Acappela music and for elementary education. They became engaged when she was teaching in San Angelo and my Father was working a minister at a San Angelo Church of Christ. They were married in Fort Worth in June of 1955, at the Polytechnic Church of Christ by Leroy Brownlow. They began their education careers together in the Fort Worth Independent School District, she as a teacher at SS Dillow Elementary. In between raising her children, she would later teach at South Hills, Oakhurst, Logan, and Nathan Howell Elementary schools. Her claim to fame in her teaching career was teaching Larry Gatlin in West Texas when he was a child. He performed at the Bass Hall and recognized her in front of the audience one year when he knew she was attending. She and Blake enjoyed a full life before and after their retirement. Blake and Maxie spent time serving actively serving in the Fort Worth Retired School Employees Association. They were very active in the Eastside Breakfast Optimist Club for many years with perfect attendance. Blake served as president, as well as other offices and enjoyed serving during the annual spaghetti supper fundraisers.
Maxie’s main purpose in life was to serve the Lord. She served alongside Blake, while he became a deacon, then an elder for 31 years at Brentwood/Bridgewood Church of Christ. She used her beautiful voice sing along with Blake in both funerals, weddings, and in the Brentwood Chorus that sang on television every week. She participated in many book clubs and was a member of the Womens Club Book Club in FW. She was an excellent Bible student and teacher. She gave many showers and cooked many meals for others. She was an excellent writer and was responsible for putting together the history of the Brentwood/Bridgewood Church of Christ. She wrote encouraging notes to others every day, up until the day before she passed away. She loved her friends and loved being a joyful and positive spirit in this world to them. She and Blake went on several mission trips to Mexico, New Jersey and Colorado. She and Blake loved to travel, visiting all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, the British Isles, especially Scotland, several European countries and Scandinavia. They traveled to Egypt, Israel, Australia and New Zealand. They enjoyed many happy times traveling with their friends. Maxie wrote Blake a book, The Adventures of Blake and Maxie Sickles, that detailed their travels that he could read as he became ill with Alzheimer’s. They were married for 55 years until Blake passed away from Alzheimer’s Complications in 2010.
She was the loving mother to three children. She served her family as a Worthy Woman described in Proverbs 31. She was very proud of her children and grandchildren and taught them many practical lessons. She was very generous with her time and money to help them in their life. She faithfully took care of their youngest daughter, Julie for 4 years as she born with hydrocephalus. It was a long hard illness and after multiple surgeries and long hospital stays, Julie passed away in 1971. Their Brentwood church of Christ and Atwood McDonald school families, the physicians and nurses, helped them in so many ways. Blake and Maxie loved Julie dearly and she was always missed. Maxie loved her children and family teaching them many worthwhile life lessons and skills. She was a cheerleader for all of their hobbies and interests. She loved watching their oldest, Scott, play football at Eastern Hills High School and at Abilene Christian University. She loved to watch their daughter, Roberta, play tennis at Handley Middle School and Abilene Christian University. She tried to take an active interest in both Scott and Roberta’s families in so many ways. They made sure that all of their grandchildren would be able to attend college. She was able to see all of her children and grandchildren graduate with bachelor’s degrees in her lifetime. She was avid reader and read voraciously the Bible, History and Fiction. She was a quiet expert on many subjects and kept many books on her kindle in progress. She will always be remembered by her family and friends as a peaceful, joyful, thoughtful woman with a beautiful spirit and a beautiful smile. She had a wonderful sense of humor and would “crack wise” when you least expected it. She was truly the wind beneath the wings of her family and others. Maxie was preceded in death by her husband Blake and their daughter, Julie Sickles. Survivors: son, Scott Sickles and wife, Cindy, of Amarillo; daughter, Roberta and husband John Dimaggio, of Arlington; grandchildren, Jeff Sickles , Bryan Sickles and his wife Julie of Amarillo Texas, Ashley and her husband Rhett Sain, Brett Sickles, and his wife Hannah of Lubbock Texas, Meredith Meyer and Marcie and her husband Alejandro Rivas of Fort Worth; brother, Lyle Snow of San Francisco; and numerous friends.
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