Odesta Hicks Stokes

RALEIGH - Odesta Hicks Stokes , 93, stepped into Glory at 2:27am, Wednesday, November 23, 2011 at Johnston Memorial Hospital.Odesta was the first born to Percy V. Hicks and Nellie Messer Hicks in Wake County, NC on September 17, 1918.She was predeceased by three brothers, Clayborn Hicks, W. D. Hicks, and Toby Hicks; two sisters, Anna Mae Baker and Dorothy Schultz: her daughter, Betty Jean Stokes Giles, and her son Raymond Burnette Stokes, Jr. (R. B. Jr.).Odesta was a graduate of Garner High School in 1938. She was preceded in death by her husband Raymond Burnette Stokes, Sr. (R.B.), who she married on May 12, 1940.They lived in Raleigh where she served as homemaker and caring for her children until their late teens whereas she took a secretarial job in her husbands concrete business.They owned and operated R. B. Stokes Concrete Contractors their entire married life of 58 years.Odesta lived in Raleigh until 2005 when she moved to Smithfield to near her sister and caregiver.Odesta is survived by her four grandchildren, Kimberly King,Burnie Stokes, Rainy Stokes and Cindy Giles and six great-grandchildren.She also has one surviving sibling, her beloved baby sister, Frances Hilliard who was her caregiver.Funeral Services will be held Saturday at 2:00 pm at Bryan-Lee Funeral Chapel, Garner, with the Rev. Marcus Riggs, pastor of Bizzell Grove Pentecostal Holiness Church,Princeton, officiating.Burial will follow at Montlawn Memorial Park, Raleigh.The family will be at the funeral home from 1:00 to 2:00 pm, one hour prior to the service and at other times at the home of Frances & Ray Hilliard, 116 Caleb Dr., Princeton, NC.In lieu of flowers, contributions may be given to the Gideons at: Gideons Memorial Chairman, Gideons International, P. O. Box 1512, Cary, NC 27512-1512.Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.Psalm 23:6.