Willa Hickman

Franklin, Tenn. - Willa Cleveland Hickman, 92, died Sunday, August 8, 2010, at a nursing facility in Franklin, Tenn. after an extended illness. A Ratliff native, she was born November 22, 1917 to Dr. William H. and Mabel Compton Cleveland. The daughter of a family doctor, she was raised in Tupelo and other locations in Mississippi and lived in the historically registered "Jailers house" on Broadway Ave. She also lived in Jackson and Wiggins where she graduated from High School before attending nursing school at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. It was there she met and married her first husband, Dr. Grover Cleveland Collins. She was also married to Courtney Chron of Memphis, Tennesee until his death and her third husband, Douglas Hickman of Pasqacoula, Mississippi until his death. She was a Baptist and a longtime member of the National Humane Society.

A Stateroom Service will be 2 p.m. Thursday at W. E. Pegues in Tupelo. Burial will be in Tupelo Memorial Park.

Survivors include her son, Robert Cleveland Collins, Sr. of Franklin, Tenn.; her grandsons, Robert Cleveland Collins, Jr., Christopher William Collins, James Victor Collins, Stephen Riley Collins, and Gregory Scott Collins; 18 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her first husband, Dr. Grover Cleveland Collins; her second husband, Courtney Chron; her third husband, Douglas Hickman; two sisters, Mildred Mabel Bancker and Jeanette Cleveland Deese.

Pallbearers will be her grandsons and her great grandsons.

Visitation will be 12 2 p.m. at the funeral home.

Memorials may be made to National Humane Society or locally to the Tupelo-Lee Humane Society, 2400 South Gloster Street, Tupelo, MS 38801-6818.