Hicks Portrays Laura Ingalls Wilder in Visit to McKenzie Schools by Deborah Turner May 14 McKenzie children were treated to a view of yesteryear on Monday, May 14, when “Laura Ingalls” rode onto the school yards astride the 12-year-old Tennessee walking horse, Shadow. The pair were on hand to encourage the reading of the Little House series and other Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and to promote the time-tested values of which she wrote in her love of family and friends. Dressed in period clothing, Pam Hicks of Cowan, Tenn., portrayed Ingalls as an adult, having begun her writing career in her 50s, Pam told the children. The visit to McKenzie schools marked Hicks and Shadow’s 29th school visit to promote the books that tell the stories of Laura’s life growing up as a pioneer on the plains in Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, and South Dakota in the 1870s and’80s. Fifth grade students showed their prowess with history, when Hicks asked what was happening in the 1880s, by answering “the Civil War” and “slavery”. The question brought home some of the difficulties of the age into which Ingalls was born in 1867. At the middle and elementary schools, children were familiar with the Little House books, knowing the family dog’s name was “Jack” and other details of the series. Some teachers mentioned canvassing the Little House books in the week before Hicks’ visit and many were as enthralled as the children, reflecting the timelessness of the books’ appeal. Middle school principal Jon Frye and fifth grade teacher Melody McClain alike recalled their third grade teachers reading from the stories each day during the school year. Pam’s school visits began this year after Shadow was featured on the cover of the newly released version of “By the Shores of Silver Lake”, the fifth book in the nine volume Little House series. Shadow will soon be featured on the cover of another Laura Ingalls Wilder publication. “I’ve turned it into a mission and it’s been a real blessing to me,” says Pam. Her favorite experience of her journeys occurred when a youngster in a wheelchair powered over to greet Shadow, who allowed the boy to pet him without the fear some horses might exhibit in the face of the unfamiliar contraption. “At every school,” she said, relishing the opportunities the visits have provided, “the same question is asked: ‘Is it way cool to have your horse’s picture on a book?’ and the same answer 29 times is, ‘Yep, you bet it is!’” Pam is the wife of Dr. W. Marlin Hicks, alumnus of McKenzie schools and Bethel College. He continued his education at Southern College of Optometry in her hometown of Memphis, graduating in 1970, and began his practice in the Navy, retiring in 1990 as a commander. The son of Mildred and the late Archie Hicks, and sister of Jo Ann Cooper, Marlin continues his practice at Winchester Eye Clinic in Winchester, Tenn. They are the parents of Tami (Lt. Commander Dan Murphy) and J..J. (Rachel) Hicks and three grandchildren: Amanda and Ashley Murphy and new baby Aidan Doss Hicks. Pam said she made the hours-long journey with Shadow in honor of her husband’s hometown and her three nieces who currently attend the schools: greatniece Rebekah Edlin (6th grade) and Rachel Edlin (4th grade), and great-great niece Millie Brewer (1st grade). The couple also have a great niece and nephew in attendance at Bethel: siblings Kristi Canchola and Roger Morris.