Jean Hightower Dicks

Ima Jean Hightower was born to Eugene Hightower and the former Billie Taylor on February 28, 1934 in Ft. Worth, Texas. She was their only child. Later, her mother married G W Buck McFadden, who gave Jean three brothers: Bill, Steve, and Gordon McFadden. As a child Jean looked like her children would in their own childhoods. Starting with bright blonde hair, it turned red as she aged. She loved animals; there’s a photo of her as a toddler, in a cowboy hat and boots, sitting atop a Shetland Pony with the grin only a joyful 2 year old could conjure. She attended Polytechnic High School in Fort Worth.

When Jean was young she developed a terrible fever. So terrible, it was doubtful she would survive without a hospital. On the way to the hospital the car broke down. With only her mother and grandmother there, they didn’t know what to do. They were shortly rescued by a young man and a young woman, who took them to the hospital and waited until her father got there. When it was clear she’d be OK, her father introduced himself to the couple in the waiting room. The man introduced the both of them with a handshake, “I’m Clyde Barrow and this is Bonnie Parker.”

Jean gave herself a birthday present in 1952. Then married to Robert Bouldin, she gave birth to the first of their two children, Victor Glenn Bouldin on her own birthday. Two years later, Victor gained a sister with the birth of Ronda. They grew up on a dock with a love of the water that ran behind their house.

Sometimes a job is just a job, like working at the now defunct Texas State Optical in Fort Worth as Jean did in 1964. But a brown eyed handsome man called upon the store one day; an ad man she’d spend the bulk of her life with. She married Robert H. Dicks on May 27, 1965, settling in Abilene, Texas where they’d spend the rest of their time together. They would have one child together, Robert H. Dicks II, in 1965.

While her husband worked the ad business throughout the Big Country, Jean would work printing presses for the Abilene Reporter News before moving on to work on an assembly line at Valley Faucet. She was gifted her two grandchildren, Chris Correll and Tanya Bouldin, She spent the 70s traveling extensively with her family to Mexico and all across the United States. In the 80s she became a fitness freak, going to the gym daily. She always wanted to fly so she learned, getting her pilot’s license in 1982. She took up line dancing in the 90s, not just loving to dance but teach others—including former Texas Governor Ann Richards—how to dance. She loved country music, John Wayne movies, and Elvis. And, of course, she loved her family.

She developed Alzheimer’s in late 2017 and moved to Dallas, where she lived the final five years of her life with her son Robert and daughter in law Lisa. With the onset of the pandemic, the three of them were blessed to spend every hour of every day together. Jean made a new best friend; a mentally challenged cat named Mr. Big adopted her, sleeping beside her each night. He’d call for her if he didn’t know where she was. She did the same when he hid in the closet. Despite her illness, she was still able to move about and eat her son’s chocolate when he wasn’t looking.

She is preceded in death by her biological father Eugene Hightower, by her parents, G W and Billie McFadden, her oldest son Victor Bouldin, her brothers Steve McFadden and Bill McFadden, her son in law, Andrew Lawry, and her husband Robert H. Dicks. She is survived by her daughter, Ronda Lawry of Abilene, Texas, two grandchildren, Christopher Correll and Tanya Bouldin, her son, Robert H. Dicks II of Dallas, Texas, her daughter in law Lisa Dicks, her brother Gordon McFadden, her sister in law Deborah McFadden, and a host of nieces, great nieces, one great great nephew and one great great niece. She is also survived by Mr. Big, her best friend, a fuzzy 17 year old American Shorthair with a tiny head and a thick waist who was constantly at her side for the last five years.

Visitation will be held Sunday, April 2, at Sparkman/Hillcrest Funeral Home from 1:00pm to 2:pm, immediately preceding the funeral service in the Bill Sparkman Memorial Chapel at 2:00pm.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.Sparkman-Hillcrest.com for the Dicks family.