Welcome to the Russ Hicks Home Page!

Hello!   I'm glad you stopped by for a visit!   My name is Russ Hicks and I live in Plano (near Dallas), Texas.   I worked for Texas Instruments as a computer consultant before retiring in 1998.   I'm married, have two grown children, and belong to Toastmasters and the National Stuttering Association..

Please come in by clicking on one of the items below.

• Personal and family information
  
• Work at Texas Instruments
  
• Toastmasters
  
• The National Stuttering Association
  
• My Photo Albums
  
• A special message for 2008  
  
• Writings
• My Bio
   
  

    Please send me an email!   I'd love to hear from you!

Please sign or view my guestbook  (or View older guestbook entries)

Last updated: 5/4/2012

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I worked at Texas Instruments for 35 years, since August 19, 1963. Three months later on November 22, I watched Jackie and John Kennedy drive by the TI plant where I worked near the airport. Thirty minutes later he was killed in downtown Dallas. Like everyone else that fateful day, we were shocked and saddened - and will remember that day forever.

I started work as a manufacturing engineer in the Apparatus Division and soon became involved in computers - where I've made my career. I worked in many computer related jobs at TI since then, including four years in Lubbock, Texas, where we built calculators, watches, and home computers. When we moved back to Dallas (really Plano) I worked in Corporate Business Systems and several years later moved to Information Systems and Services (IS&S) where I became a computer systems consultant. Most recently  I worked in the "Road Warrior" team of Executive Support Systems within the Information Technology Services group.

My specialty is dialup communication systems and I've had a part in many major dialup systems including EZDIAL, WinDial, and most recently Travel Dial. These systems help TIers all over the world communicate with each other from and to anywhere in the world. I help people all over TI use these systems and answer many questions as problems arise.

On August 14, 1998, I took a wonderful retirement package from TI allowing me to pursue other interests, particularly in the areas of NSA and Toastmasters.   (More on my "retirement" as I gain more experience in this new lifestyle!)

TI is a fun - and challenging - company to work for. For further information see the Texas Instruments home page.

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Personal and family information:

These are the members of my family:

• Stachia, my wife
• John, our son
• Cathy, our daughter
• Sammi, our daughter-in-law, John's wife
• Andy, our son-in-law, Cathy's husband
• John and Sammi's family
• Cathy and Andy's family
• All the kids and grandkids at Thanksgiving 2003
• Lucy, our sweet little dog (died in 2004)

These are our cars:

• 1962 VW, "Lulu", sold in 1990 after 29 years
• 2000 Toyota Camry, Stachia's car (Dad's car from San Antonio)
• 2006 Buick Lucerne, my car

We live in Plano, Texas, just north of Dallas.

We've recently established a Hicks Cuzzin Network to keep in touch
with all our various cousins and their families everywhere.

Prior Christmas letters

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My photo albums:

• Our European trip to Paris and London for our 35th wedding anniversary, June 1998
  
  
• Columbus High School 40th reunion in July 1998
    (Flickr photo album pending, August 2009)

• NSP Seattle 99 Convention, June 1999
    (Flickr photo album pending, August 2009)
  
  
• NSA Boston 2001 Conference, June 2001.  (This link takes you to the NSA Boston group on Yahoo.)
  
  
• NSA Mobile Regional Workshop, February 2003
  
  
• NSA Philadelphia Regional Workshop, April 2003
  
  
• NSA Nashville 2003 Conference, June 2003.  (This link takes you to the NSA-Nashville group on Yahoo.)
   
• NSA Baltimore 2004 Conference, June 2004.  (This link takes you to the NSA-Baltimore group on Yahoo.)
   
• NSA Chicago 2005 Conference, July 2005.  (This link takes you to the NSA-Chicago group on Yahoo.)
   
• Our Michigan and Indiana trip in September 2004.  (This link takes you to a Shutterfly album for a slide show!)
   
• The Tacoma/Seattle NSA workshop in March 2005.  (This link takes you to a Shutterfly album for a slide show!)
   
• The TSHA convention in Austin in March 2005.  (This link takes you to a Shutterfly album for a slide show!)
   
• The Dallas NSA workshop in April 2005.  (This link takes you to a Shutterfly album for a slide show!)
   
• Cathy's PhD graduation in Tucson in May 2005.  (This link takes you to a Shutterfly album for a slide show!)
   
• Our Carnival Cruise to Cozumel  in October 2005.  (This link takes you to a Shutterfly album for a slide show!)
   
• Our trip to Yuma in November 2005.  (This link takes you to a Shutterfly album for a slide show!)
   
• Our trip to the Pacific Northwest in May 2006.  (This link takes you to a Shutterfly album for a slide show!)
   
• The NSA Long Beach conference pictures in June 2006.  (This link takes you to a Shutterfly album for a slide show!)
   
• The NSA Atlanta conference pictures in June 2007.  (This link takes you to a Flickr album for a slide show!)
   
• Our Western Caribbean Cruise in July 2007.  (This link takes you to a Flickr album for a slide show!)
   
• The NSA Parsippany/NYC  conference pictures in June 2008.  (This link takes you to a Flickr album for a slide show!)
   
• Columbus High School 50th reunion in September 2008.  (This link takes you to a Flickr album for a slide show!)
   
• Columbus General pictures, non-reunion in September 2008.  (This link takes you to a Flickr album for a slide show!)
   
• In Memory of my Dad, RD Hicks, Sr.,  1911 - 2008.  (This link takes you to a Flickr album for a slide show.)
   
• A list of all our photo albums on Flickr.
  
  
• Our Hawaiian vacation (still) pictures in 2011.  (This link takes you to a Picasa album for a slide show.)
  
  
• Our Hawaiian vacation VIDEOS in 2011.  (This link takes you a Picasa album for a slide show of the videos.)
  
  
• Milwaukee SLP lecture in March 2012.   (This link takes you a Picasa album for a slide show.)
  
  
• Panama Canal April 2012.   (This link takes you a Picasa album for a slide show.)
  
  
• Dallas NSA 30th Anniversary Celebration.  (This link takes you a Picasa album for a slide show.)
  
  
• Arizona Vacation 2012.  (This link takes you a Picasa album for a slide show.)
  
  
• Michigan 2012, Shady Trails Reunion.  (This link takes you a Picasa album for a slide show.)

• A list of all our photo albums on Picasa.  
  

 

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Toastmaster information:

I belong to two Toastmaster clubs in District 50 (Northeast Texas):

• Callier Communicators - I founded this club in 1995 mainly for people with speech and communication problems.  (This club was discontinued in 2009.)
• Roving 49ers               - This is the District 50 leadership club. We eat a lot!
• 2ChangeU                   - I am a club coach for this club 
  

In June of 1996 I won the Toastmasters International Region III Humorous Speech Contest in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Region III is a ten state area in the southwest United States including Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and parts of several other states. Here's a picture of me accepting the first place trophy!

And here's the Dallas Morning News Article on me winning that contest. 

In January 2011, I was featured in an article published in "The Toastmaster," the monthly magazine of Toastmasters International.  Here's a link to that article. 

For information about Toastmasters, see the Toastmasters International home page.

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The National Stuttering Association:

 

I've stuttered significantly all my life, worse in my youth but getting less severe with age. (There's bound to be some advantages to getting older!) In 1985 Lee Reeves, a total stranger then, but soon to be a wonderful and inspirational friend of mine, literally forced me to join the National Stuttering Association (formerly named the National Stuttering Project) - and my life began to change. Who I am today is closely related to the influence of Lee and many other of my wonderful NSP friends all over the world. I owe you my life, gang!

NSA activities:

I am currently the webmaster of the national NSA website at www.WeStutter.org. 

Click here for information on the workshop  "Successful Stuttering - It's Time to Live!"

Good sites for information on stuttering:

• The National Stuttering Association Home Page
• The Dallas Chapter of the NSA Home Page
• The Stuttering Home Page

Significant events and trips made for the NSA:

• Houston workshop, May 4, 1996
• Denver 1996 NSA national convention
• Cleveland workshop, March 22, 1997
• Buffalo 1997 NSA Convention home page
• 1997 Canadian Speak Easy Conference, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
• New Orleans workshop, November 8, 1997
• Orange County California workshop, March 14, 1998
• Buffalo workshop, March 28, 1998
• Atlanta NSA national convention, June 19, 1998
• Cincinnati workshop, October 24, 1998
• Minneapolis workshop, November 7, 1998
• Seattle/Tacoma national convention, June 19, 1999
• Chicago Convention, June 28, 2000
• Boston Convention, June 27, 2001
• Detroit workshop, October 13, 2001 
• Anaheim Convention, June 27, 2002
• Boston (New England) workshop, October 25, 2002
• Mobile, Alabama workshop, February 22, 2003 
• Philadelphia (Delaware Valley) workshop, April 12, 2003
• Nashville Conference, June 27, 2003
• Baltimore Conference, June 24, 2004
• Seattle/Tacoma workshop, March 5, 2005
• Chicago Conference, July 13, 2005
• Buffalo workshop, April 1, 2006
• Long Beach Conference, June 2006
• Atlanta Conference, June 2007
• Parsippany/NYC Conference, July 2008
• Washington, DC, workshop, May 2009
• Scottsdale Conference, July 2009
  
• Ft. Worth Conference, July 2011
• Milwaukee SLP lecture, March 2012

See the Dallas Morning News Article on me: "Stutterer Has Found a Way with Words."

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Writings:

The Adventures of Roe and Dee

The Iceberg Analogy of Stuttering.

International Stuttering Awareness Day (ISAD) papers:

• 1999, Public Speaking for Stutterers

• 2001, Shady Trailers, Hats Off to Thee!

• 2001, The Chicken and the Alligators - or - How to Facilitate a Support Group Meeting

• 2002, The Gift of Stuttering

• 2003, Advertising Your Stuttering - "Balance"

• 2003, The Iceberg Analogy of Stuttering

• 2004, Class Reunions

• 2005, The Iceberg Matrix of Stuttering

• 2006, Because I Stutter

• 2007, How bad do you stutter?

• 2008, SLP Students Just Wanna Have Fun!

• 2009, Acceptance is NOT Giving Up!
  
  
• 2010, What Are You Afraid Of?  

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