Union County native Jessica Hicks has made it a point to return to her hometown over the past 30 years to give back to the community.
The 1989 El Dorado High School graduate and retired U.S. Army veteran has traveled the world and at each stop, she has held onto the experiences and lessons she learned from her small-town upbringing.
Hicks, who now lives in Tacoma, Washington, will make another trip home this weekend to unveil a new book that details her life's journey and serves as a love letter to the village that raised her.
The community is invited to share in the book reveal on Saturday in the Strong Community Center, 9400 Strong Hwy. Doors open at 2:30 p.m.
"My story is one of overcoming some real odds against me. I've been away from home for over 30 years now and many people from Urbana don't know the things I have been through or things accomplished during my military career but they will know once they read the book," Hicks said.
"This is also for my military peers, who didn't know Jessie Hicks from Urbana," she added.
Hicks enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1994 and retired in 2015 as a senior non-commissioned officer, sergeant first class (E-7).
She has a background in construction engineering.
Before and during her military service and since her retirement, Hicks has remained focused on ways to improve the quality of life for her family, friends and neighbors in South Arkansas.
Hicks, the daughter of Lee. O Hicks Jr. and Mableteen Greenwood Ford, proudly cites the Free Hope community as her hometown, saying that she attended kindergarten in what is now the Strong-Huttig School District.
While she was still in kindergarten, Hicks's family moved to Urbana, an unincorporated community that is now a census-dedicated place (CDP), approximately 13 miles east of El Dorado.
As a first-grader, Urbana students were transferred to the El Dorado School District when the Urbana and Lawson school districts merged with El Dorado in 1978.
For now, Hicks won't share many more autobiographical details, preferring to hold the information and the title of her book close to the vest until the unveiling.
She shared that people who heavily influenced her life are noted throughout the book.
"This book can generate a lot. It can do a lot of things so that I can continue to put things in the community so that it will not be forgotten," Hicks told the News-Times. "I've done things that people don't even know about to give back and for the ones they may know about, I've always said it's a donation from my family."
She noted that the book, which took two years to write, also highlights and celebrates Urbana, a community that she feels is slowly fading away from time and memory.
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, Urbana has a population of 177 people.
"The 11-chapter, page-turner delves into (Hicks's) family story and the real lives and stories of a community that might have been forgotten," per a written statement that was released by Hicks.
Hicks is expected to announce the first recipients of the inaugural Urbana Girl Scholarship during the book unveiling on Saturday.
The scholarship is available to students from Free Hope, Strong and Urbana.
Since there are no graduating seniors from Urbana in the EHS Class of 2023, Hicks said a portion of the scholarship funds will be donated to one of two churches that she calls home -- Mt. Zion No. 2 Missionary Baptist Church in Urbana.
The second is Spring Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Oakland, Louisiana.
"That's my father's church," Hicks said of Spring Hill.
The scholarship checks will be handed out to recipients during a breakfast that is planned later for the Strong-Huttig senior class.
Hicks said two Urbana Girl scholarships will be awarded each year.
Hicks again encouraged the public to attend the ceremony and help celebrate South Arkansas on Saturday.
"I don't think I can ever live back home, but I can still come back home and do things for my community," she said.
Copies of Hicks's book will be available for purchase Saturday at $30 for a hard cover and $25 for paperback.