Jeanette (Hickox) Wilkie

Jeanette (Hickox) Wilkie of Hudson, NH, died Thursday, October 22, 2020, at age 95, following a brief illness. She was the wife of Fred J. Wilkie, with whom she had celebrated seventy years of marriage on November 5, 2019.

Jeanette was born July 21, 1925 in Alexander, New York, the daughter of the late John C. and Maisie (Garrett) Hickox. She graduated from Alexander High School in 1943. After marriage, the couple moved from Batavia, NY, to Fort Wayne, IN, where Fred attended Indiana Institute of Technology, earning a degree in Civil Engineering on the GI bill. Jeanette worked as a bookkeeper at People's Bank. Following Fred's graduation, they moved to Elmira, NY, then to Syracuse, NY, later buying their first house in Camillus, NY. When Fred became employed by the United States Air Force, they moved to Verona, NY, and then bought a home in Oneida, NY. A transfer to Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base in Missouri took them to Overland Park, KS for seven years before moving to Hudson, NH, when Fred was employed at Hanscom Air Force Base.

Jeanette was a homemaker, raised the children, enjoyed sewing, and was a good cook. She was an active member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Chelmsford, MA, where her favorite charitable project, for thirty-seven years, was sewing quilts to be distributed by Lutheran World Relief. She also volunteered with RSVP in Nashua at The Girl's Club teaching crafts. She was an artist who worked with watercolor and oil paints and belonged to the Nashua Area Artists Association. From 1998 to 2003, Jeanette was employed as the Chief Engineers Executive Secretary - Top Secret classification, at Hanscom Base in Bedford, MA.

She enjoyed working on her family's history and belonged to the Hudson Library Genealogy Club. She attended RISE classes at Rivier University for many years, during which time she wrote her memoir, My Life…My Attitude. Her book was published in 2016 for family members, with additional copies in the public libraries of Hudson, NH, and Batavia, NY. Jeanette had many friends and stayed in contact with them throughout her life.

Jeanette was predeceased by two daughters: Elaine (Wilkie) Locke in 2002, and Janice (Wilkie) Barocas in 2019, two sisters and their spouses, Marion (Hickox) and John Grefrath, Ruth (Hickox) and Warren Hopkins, and a brother and sister-in-law, Chester Hickox and Marian (Burger).

Besides her husband, survivors include daughter Marcia J. Wilkie of Los Angeles, CA and son, David J. Wilkie of Nashua, NH. Also surviving are Jeanette's five grandchildren, Sara Kilborn (Derek), Megan Landis (Roy), Colin Barocas, Andrew Locke, Brandon Locke (Rebecca), and four great-grandchildren, Julius Locke, Leland Kilborn, Ettie Kilborn, and Dylan Landis, along with son-in-law, Jerry Barocas, and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Internment will be at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Attica, NY. Memorials may be made to Trinity Lutheran Church, 170 Old Westford Road, Chelmsford, MA, 01824, or to the American Heart Association (www.heart.org)