Voneda Owens Wicker

Voneda Owens Wicker died peacefully of old age at the age of 94 on July 4th, 2022 surrounded by a fully packed room of loved ones at Dayton Hospice in Dayton, Ohio. Voneda was born the youngest of 9 siblings on February 19th, 1928 in Garrett, Kentucky to her mother Louhettie Owens (née Slone) and her father Joseph Owens. A fateful meeting arranged by a wayward cow after a spring flood led to her marriage to James B. Wicker, Sr. on June 19, 1948 at Garrett Baptist Church in Garrett, Kentucky. Voneda gave birth to their first son James B. Wicker Jr. in 1952 in Norfolk, Virginia, their second son Phillip L. Wicker in 1956 and their youngest son, Devert W. Wicker in 1958 both in Dayton, Ohio.

Voneda was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and was blessed with enough life to love 5 great-grandchildren. She had a strong sense of justice and advocacy that she passed down to her family. This developed from seeing the positive impact of unions in improving the pay and safety of the many relatives who worked in extremely dangerous conditions in Eastern Kentucky’s coal mining industry. She continued this passion organizing teachers’ strikes and hounding several state Attorney General’s including an Ohio Attorney General until her daughter-in-law’s mother won her disability case that included back disability pay. Perhaps the most impressive example, is her and her siblings battling a large mineral and coal company that was destroying their father’s land for over 40 years until the company settled in court, which she of course documented in an entire picture album of that final court day. Her last coherent conversations included condemning SCOTUS’s destruction of reproductive rights leading to her hospice nurses trying to calm her rage in vain. She and her husband instilled how imperative a good education was in her children and grandchildren resulting in them earning numerous Associates, Bachelors, Masters and PhD degrees.

She is survived by 2 sons (James B. Wicker Jr., Phillip L. Wicker), 4 grandchildren (Christina A. Wicker, Ashley L. Wicker-Trent, Devin A. Farmer (née Wicker), Logan A. Wicker and Janae D. Wicker), and 5 great-grandchildren (Emma G. Farmer, Zachary D. Farmer, James N. Trent, Caleb A. Farmer, and Justin D. Farmer). She is preceded in death by her husband James B. Wicker Sr., her son Devert W. Wicker, her sisters (Virginia L. Fite (née Owens), Alice W. Martin (née Owens), Pollyanna O. Wiley (née Owens), and Leona V. Fouts (née Owens)) and her brothers (Miles M. Owens, Marcus Owens Sr., Curtis Owens, and Devert Owens). Voneda retired as a teacher from Northridge Elementary in the mid-80s.

Voneda’s final viewing will be on Friday, July 15th, 2022 from 5-7 PM at the Tobias Funeral Home, 3970 Dayton-Xenia Rd, Beavercreek, Ohio, 45432. Her funeral will be held at the same location at 10 AM Saturday, July 16th, 2022. Directly after she and her husband will be entombed at the Valley View Memorial Gardens, 170 N Valley Rd. Xenia, Ohio 45385.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.tobias-fh.com for the Wicker family.