Cheryl Lee Hickman, age 69 years of Niles, Michigan; mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, avid reader, and devout Christian died peacefully at 12:15 p.m. on Easter Sunday, 2021 (April 4) at Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Indiana following a long battle against cancer.
She was born on March 7, 1952 in Saint Clair, Michigan to John W. and Beatrice N. (Bachand) McLeod, and was graduated from Saint Clair High School. She came to Niles in 1978, and continued her education at Southwestern Michigan College, earning an Associates degree in Computer Science. She was employed in the offices of the former Niles plant of Tyler Refrigeration, beginning in the data processing days of keypunch cards. She maintained her proficiency in each new phase of information technology until the plant closed. She continued to work in data entry from home, and was employed at the Granger, Indiana Target store through most of 2020.
Cheryl attended Hope Community Church in Niles where she volunteered in the Children’s Ministries and assisted her grandson as he installed the playground for an Eagle Scout project. She was an avid reader of fiction (romance novels), and enjoyed various arts and crafts, completing many ceramics projects. She enjoyed traveling throughout the United States, often with family, and had visited many national landmarks including Times Square in New York City, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Mackinac Island, and the former Prehistoric Forest Amusement Park on U.S.12. Her greatest interest was her family, especially her grandchildren.
Surviving family includes her son, Kevin Nowicki of Niles; grandchildren Talon Nowicki and Trey Nowicki; Cheryl’s mother, Beatrice “Bea” McLeod of East China, Michigan; Cheryl’s siblings, Vicki (& Ned) Zimmer of Saint Clair, Michigan, John (& Carla) McLeod of Marysville, Michigan, and Nancy (& Robert) Yelencich of Columbus, Michigan; and seven nieces and nephews and twenty-one great-nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her father, John McLeod on May 6, 1999.
The funeral service for Cheryl Hickman will be at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, April 9, 2021 at the Halbritter-Wickens Funeral Home, 615 East Main Street in Niles with the Rev. Sheryl Blake, Ministry Teams Pastor of Hope Community Church officiating. Committal will follow at Silverbrook Cemetery in Niles. Attendance is limited, masks required, and social distancing practiced. Others may witness the events via the livestreamed broadcast on the Halbritter-Wickens Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/halbritterwickensfuneralservices/.
The family will receive relatives and friends on Friday at the funeral home beginning at Noon. Contributions in memory of Cheryl may be made to the American Cancer Society, 225 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 1200, Chicago, Illinois, 60601, https://www.cancer.org/. Arrangements were made at the Halbritter-Wickens Funeral Home, 615 East Main Street in Niles. Online condolences may be left at:
www.halbritterwickens.com
Relationships were important to Cheryl, growing-up with her siblings, raising her son, interacting with co-workers at Tyler’s, following characters in novels, fellowship with adults and children at church, and enjoying her wonderful grandchildren; all evidence of her greatest relationship in Christ and his command to love God and love people.