Margaret Kaye Smith Hickman

Margaret Kaye Smith Hickman was born in Shelbyville, Kentucky on July 16, 1942 and, after a year-long battle with stage four cancer, entered eternal life on Sunday, December 24, 2023 at her home in Clemson, South Carolina.

We are blessed to have learned many valuable lessons from Kaye (aka Gamama, Mom, Kaye-Kaye, Granny Smith) during her eighty-one years of life:

Laugh heartily and often; it’s good for your health and your soul. Make a list for everything and make it on the back of an envelope. Learn to tell a good story but master the art of hilarious exaggeration. Work the Crossword and Jumble every morning and do it in ink so people will think you’re smart. Buy everything your grandchildren are selling, even if you already have five years’ worth of wrapping paper in your gift closet. College football is the best Saturday television, especially if Clemson is playing, but you must mute the commercials.

If you’re cooking, cook for a crowd—you never know who might show up. Always have clean sheets on the guest bed for the same reason. Pull out your good china for all celebrations and holidays—it’s meant to be used, not looked at!

Family dinners should be frequent. Always serve plenty of family recipes, like Wild Bill’s Eggnog, Patsy’s green beans, cucumber salad, and pork tenderloin at these gatherings, and add bourbon to improve almost any dish. Celebrate birthdays together. Rent the largest possible beach house each summer so that everyone can stay. Make special trips to Danville, KY for the world’s best gingerbread men and give them to your grandkids by the dozen. Tell your family you love them every time you see them. Keep extra cash around to slip into their pockets and purses. Always hug goodbye.

Hum Christmas tunes often and without reservation year-round. Don’t be afraid to cry at beautiful choral music. Sing hymns. Call your siblings. Deliver Meals on Wheels. Cultivate life-long friendships with your coworkers – mom adored her friends from DAPS at Clemson University. Serve, love, and respect others. Give generously to missions and local and world charities. And above all, love Jesus.

Her legacy lives on through her three daughters, Lynne (Toren) Andersson of Easley, SC, Leslie (Joe) Martin of Greenville, SC, and Maggie (Brad) Erickson of Clemson, SC, and her four grandchildren, Stephen and Jim Andersson, Ross Martin, and Sarah Martin (Matthew) Phillips. She is also survived by siblings Jake (Carol Lou) Smith of Simpsonville, KY, Barbara (Allen) Bailey of Bothel, WA, and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces and -nephews, and other family and friends too numerous to list but not forgotten. You were all very precious to her.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Margaret and Fulton Smith of Simpsonville KY, former husband Arthur Darrell Hickman of Anderson, SC, sister Ann (Martin) Deim of Danville KY, and sister Patsy Frazier of Simpsonville, KY.

Kaye will be remembered at a public service on Saturday, January 6, 2024, 3:00 PM, at Clemson Presbyterian Church. The family will receive friends from 1:30-2:30 PM before the service. Kaye will have a private Christian burial in Shelbyville, Kentucky at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Kaye's memory to Clemson Meals on Wheels, where she served faithfully for 49 years (PO Box 1415, Clemson, SC 29633), Hospice of the Foothills, who provided such tender care in her final days of life (390 Keowee School Rd., Seneca, SC 29672), Clemson Presbyterian Church Missions (346 Old Greenville Hwy, Clemson, SC 29631), Second Presbyterian Church Missions (105 River St., Greenville, SC 29601), or any charity that seeks to spread the Good News of Kaye's newest friend, Jesus.

Duckett-Robinson Funeral Home is assisting the Hickman family.