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.
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

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:
These are our cars:
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
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.)
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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:
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
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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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