Faye Hughes Van Sickle

Faye Hughes Van Sickle joined her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Jan. 13, 2010, at her home in Kalispell, under hospice care, of a cancer-generated gastric ailment. Faye was born June 13, 1924, at Elbert, Texas, the daughter of Alter Eli Hughes and Dora Johnson Hughes. She moved with her parents and brother Richard Wayne Hughes to the Throckmorton, Texas, family farm. At age 8, the family moved to Decatur, Texas, where her father attended the Decatur Baptist College, becoming a Baptist pastor. Faye graduated from Bryon, Texas, high school, and from Decatur Baptist College with a two-year degree. She later attended Oklahoma Baptist University, as well as the University of Hawaii. When her father served as pastor of Bethel Baptist Church near Frederick, Okla., she taught at a grade school near there and at Hollister, Okla. In 1950 she married Captain (later Colonel, USAF) Charles T. Moreland. Colonel Moreland, an 8th Air Force bomber pilot, later served in bomber wings and in the headquarters of the Strategic Air Command (SAC), in Pacific Air Forces, and in Headquarters, USAF in Washington. Upon Colonel Moreland s retirement, the couple lived in Fort Worth, Texas. Faye acquired distinction as an accomplished interior home designer and as a gracious hostess. She held a private pilot license. She was also an enthusiastic, dedicated flower gardener. Faye was employed for 20 years by General Dynamics, attaining the rank of aircraft design engineer. Colonel Moreland died of natural causes in 1980, leaving Faye s stepson, Associate Judge Charles T. Moreland, Jr., of Willis, Texas. In 1987, she married Neil (later Maj. Gen. USAF, Ret.) Van Sickle. The couple settled in Kalispell. She was much loved by the extensive Van Sickle family, acquiring nine grandchildren, and 17 great-grandchildren, as well as nieces and nephews and their children in the Hughes family. In Kalispell she was a member of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, an original director of the Museum at Central School, a member of Hockaday Museum of Art Guild, and was active in Chapter AB, P.E.O. Sisterhood, Glacier League, the Retired Military Wives Organization M.O.A.A., and Republican Women. Through the Faye H. Van Sickle Trust, she established the Reverend A.E. and Dora Johnson Hughes Scholarship Fund at Oklahoma Baptist University. She was preceded in death by her father and mother, Rev. A.E. and Mrs. Dora Hughes; and by one brother, John L. Hughes. She is survived by her husband, Neil Van Sickle, of Kalispell; by his son, Peter Van Sickle and wife, Trisha, of Coeur d Alene, Idaho; his daughters, Anne Ewing and husband, Larry, of McMinnville, Ore., Kathleen Leatham and husband, Ray, of Forest Grove, Ore., and Jane Van Sickle of Hillsboro, Ore.; and by nine grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her brother, R.W. Hughes, and wife, Dorothy, of Frederick, Okla.; her nieces, Elaine Kennedy and husband, Richard, of Pauls Valley, Okla., and Paula Carpenter and husband, Paul, of Denton, Texas; her nephew, J. Randy Hughes, and wife, Margaret, of Noble, Okla.; by 11 grandnieces and nephews and numerous great-nieces and nephews; and by her stepson, and his family, Charles Moreland Jr., and wife, Maria, of Willis, Texas. All who knew her admired and cherished her courage, and her innate elegance, grace, beauty and kindness. Cremation will be by Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home. Interment will be at the family plot in C.E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery. A memorial service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 18, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, followed by a reception at the church. The family suggests that memorial contributions be made to Faye s favorite charity, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, 801 18th St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20006-3517.