Kyle Austin Hickman

He arrived with great fanfare into this world on September 1st, 1994 to Brooke & Scott Hickman. He grew up in the Tampa Bay area and graduated from Leto High School in 2012 where he enrolled in the Culinary Arts program as was a member of the statewide Culinary Team competitions. He pursued his education at Johnson & Wales University where he received his Culinary, Business and Bachelor of Science Degree. Kyle completed his internship with the Grand Hyatt Regency, including Armani’s and Oystercatchers. After changing career goals, he worked at Prestige Travel, Hunter Warfield and started his own business, Fairwind Treasures, making artisan soaps and candles. He later became employed at University of Tampa where he worked with Physician Assistants on their training and placements of students. He loved working with the students, staff and professors in his career all while working on achieving his master’s degree at the University of Tampa. He was famous for bringing in his Broccoli salad. Students would often come to Kyle’s Zen office for tea, grab some chocolate and receive words of encouragement and a hug.

Kyle’s loved dressing up in authentic pirate garb and was a member of The Krewe of Blackbeard’s Revenge Gasparilla Pirate Krew. Taking part of decorating the floats and joining in the parades with his mother and friends. Kyle was active in local charities, helping with food pantries and youth organizations in the Tampa Bay area.

Kyle inherited his green thumb from his great grandmother, Nell. He was an avid gardener, going to local native nurseries with his mom and rescuing the struggling plants and bringing them back to life. He posted videos of his pollinator plants and raising butterflies.

In 1998, he became a big brother and middle child. He loved being a big brother to Hunter and they were very into Disney movies, Pokeman and video games. Pokeman Go was a family affair with all of us going on adventures to catch them all. His mom added a 2nd desk for him to her home office, and they often played Rollercoaster Tycoon together when he was young. He had a lifelong love of theme parks which brought him joy. He shared his father’s love of Star Wars and easily read a hundred Jedi books during his school days. He was very into Star Wars Legos and anything else Star Wars related. He had a custom Jedi outfit made and was so excited when Galaxy’s Edge opened in Disney. He collected lightsabers and built a custom droid at Disney. He also completed 5 years of cub scouts where he learned many diverse skills and loved earning badges. His brother Dwight introduced him to World of War Craft where they spent many a long evening doing a campaign together. They bonded by playing XBOX and Nintendo games together. His love for role playing games and video games lead him to start a gaming club at JWU and even had a room named after him at graduation at the campus. During his time at JWU, he was an assistant RA and headed up the TeSPA gaming club. Blizzard entertainment even flew him out to California for a week, and he had the time of his life.

During middle school, he started reading Harry Potter books and was of house Ravenclaw. He often visited Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter and had several wands.

He started playing D&D and lead a Critical role group that got together on most Wednesday evenings. This sparked his interest in the Druid religion. He researched his Scottish roots and had several traditional kilts.

His creative side was vast. He loved doing arts & crafts with his grandma Linda and he learned to crochet. Most of us still have hats, scarves, & blankets he made for us. He taught himself to sew and made elaborate renfaire and cosplay outfits for Metrocon. He started watching cooking shows after taking a culinary course at Martinez Middle School, which sparked his love for cooking. For those of you he cooked for or received his elaborate homemade food gift baskets, then you know what an excellent chef he was.

Kyle was a gentle giant. He was very smart, resourceful, ambitious and determined. As he grew, he built a tougher personality: a personality of dressing in bright and fun outfits, of hard work and goals. He built stubborn walls to protect that fragile self. Remember to be kind to each other. Every human needs to feel special, to feel valued, to feel appreciated and accepted. This is the way.

His soul is finally at peace, and we hold him close within us. Please hold your special memories of him close, in your mind and your heart.

Kyle was preceded in death by his big brother, Dwight Stone III, twin infant brothers Tyler and Rayford, his uncle Billy Nofsinger and grandmother’s Elaine Nofsinger and Doris Hickman and his beloved pets Tyson, Ali and Mojo.

"Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten."

He is survived by his mother Brooke Hickman(Brian Weiss), father Scott Hickman(Lori Hickman), Brother Hunter Hickman, grandfather William Hickman and Patsy Hickman, Aunt and Uncle Diana and Duane DeGroot as well as many cousins on both sides and extended family.

The celebration of life will be held on March 1st, 2025 at 2pm at Cunningham Hall at Starkey Ranch (12131 Rangeland Blvd. Odessa FL 33556).

In lieu of flowers, we will be planting a memory garden in Kyle’s memory if you would like to contribute a plant in his honor.