Mrs. Dickye Phillips Hickman, 84, passed away Nov. 13, 2020, in Williamsburg. She was a lifelong resident of the Eastern Shore of Virginia until she moved to Williamsburg last year to be closer to her two sons. Born in Nassawadox, Dickye was the daughter of the late Averil Stringer Phillips and the late Lynwood Bell Phillips. She graduated from Central High School in Painter, and the Northampton-Accomack Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Nassawadox as a registered nurse. She also spent time in residency at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond to prepare for her nursing career.
Dickye worked in many departments of the Northampton-Accomack Memorial Hospital—today named Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital—including nursing patients on the various floors, in the Intensive Care Unit, and lastly in the post-operative recovery room. In her almost five decades of caring for patients, she had the privilege of learning from and working with many dedicated and talented doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. Throughout her career, she was fondly known as the nurse in the community who gave ongoing courses of allergy shots and took blood pressure readings for both friends and neighbors.
Dickye is survived by Thomas A. Hickman, her husband of 58 years; a son, Thomas A. Hickman Jr., and his wife, Alice I. Hickman, of Richmond, and a son, Philip T. Hickman, and his wife, Susanna B. Hickman, of Williamsburg. She adored her beloved grandchildren, Helen N. Hickman, P. Hunter Hickman, Thomas A. Hickman III, and E. Campbell Hickman, and they brought her great joy and much happiness. Dickye is also survived by one sister, Virginia B. Phillips, of Belle Haven, and a brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Milton T. Hickman Jr. and Robin M. Hickman, of Onancock.
The family is eternally grateful for the caregiving and companionship that Rosa Griffin and Missy Jenkins gave both Dickye and Tommy over the past year.
A graveside memorial service will be conducted Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020, at 10:30 a.m, at Belle Haven Cemetery, Lee Street, Belle Haven, VA 23306, with Pastor Joe McKnight officiating.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making contributions in Dickye’s memory to Broadwater Academy, Attention: Development, P.O. Box 546, Exmore, VA 23350, or to the Painter Volunteer Fire Company, Attention: Mrs. Patricia Sturgis, Treasurer, P.O. Box 275, Painter, VA 23420.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.doughtyfuneralhome.com