Photo Gallery
Special thanks to Connie Regan-Blake, Tom Raymond, David Holt and others who also contributed photos. Please remember the photographs are copyrighted materials. Any questions may be directed to StoryWindow Productions. Enjoy!
Click on any picture below to read the captions & scroll the full size gallery.
Ray Hicks said "Hearing music, I couldn't help but hit the floor". His mom, Rena, is standing on the porch next to her son-in-law and famed musician, Frank Proffitt. Then the Hick's youngest son, Ted, and cousin Phyllis Proffit. Aunt Buena Vista Hicks is playing the fiddle. Can you hear that old-timey dancing tune?
Ray and his family tended their fields of cabbages and potatoes - growing most of their food. (Photo by: Dennis Freeman)
The Hick's homeplace on Beech Mountain was built by Ray's father, Nathan, and his grandfather, Benjamin, on land that has been in the Hick's family since the 1700's. Rosa and Ted Hicks still call it home. (Photo by: Connie Regan-Blake)
Rosa Harmon and Ray Hicks on their Wedding day.
Ray telling at a gathering at Carolyn Moore's home after the very first National Storytelling festival in 1973. Ray's cousin smiling at the camera and storyteller Connie Regan-Blake listening intently. (Photo by: Barbara Freeman)
Soon after meeting Ray, storytellers Connie Regan-Blake and cousin Barbara Freeman journeyed to Ray's front porch in Watauga County, NC to hear more stories. (Photo by: Bob Hutchinson)
Ray Hicks was a giant of a man, all six-foot-seven-inches of him filled with story.
Rosa Harmon Hicks standing next to her beloved husband and on the left is one of The Folktellers, Connie Regan-Blake who traveled & lived for 3 years in that 1975 Datsun Pick-up truck with a camper on top. (Photo by: Barbara Freeman)
Ray telling at the 3rd National Storytelling Festival. He lived his stories as he told them. "Jack, him and his momma so hungry and that northwest wind a-blowin'....
The Hicks always welcomed visitors including Ron Evans, a Chippewa-Cree Metis, from northern Saskatchewan and Larry Syzdek from upstate New York. (That's Rosa peering over Ray's shoulder.) (Photo by: Connie Regan-Blake)
Ray was known as an all day talker.
Ray's admiring fans and friends -
Mike Vaniman & Connie Regan-Blake.
Ray and Rosa had 5 children and were married 55 years before Ray passed away in 2003.
Ray enjoying life.
Special photos and mementos hanging on the wall in the front room.
Ray telling a story on his front porch. Sticks nailed to the wall forecast the weather. The hex painted on the ceiling is to keep ghosts away which Rosa says, "works most of the time!" (Photo by: David Holt)
Ray holding court with Jimmy Neil Smith, founder of the National Storytelling Festival and Tom Raymond, storyteller photographer extraordinaire.
Ray entertaining himself - and 750 delighted listeners at "Tent at Sister's Row" during the National Storytelling Festival. (Photo by: Tom Raymond)
Ray served an ambassador for storytelling worldwide with his yearly performances at the National Festival. He always drew a crowd of media folks. (The woman in the background is beloved storyteller, Jackie Torrence.)
"And Jack, he told his momma he's a'goin' down the road to seek his fortune."
Ray never did like to get too far from his homeplace but he was happy to come every year to the "Tell It in the Mountains" Storytelling Festival in Asheville, NC.
Youngest son, Ted and Ray closely examining one of their wood carvings while Rosa seems to be dreaming of her flower gardens. (Photo by: Connie Regan-Blake)
Ray always loved to wear hats. This is one that his older son, Lenard wore in Vietnam and he gave it to his Dad when he returned. When Ray passed away, his family put this hat in the coffin with Ray because everyone knew it was his favorite.
Ray said, "I live the stories", and he started in telling. "That wind, where they stayed at, that northwest wind, gah, hit would come through and just burn the house, like I've had it here, just burn the house." (Photo by: Tom Raymond)
Ray was diagnosed with cancer in 2000 and sent home with hospice care. But Ray was not quite ready to go and he had more to teach us — so we had him for 3 more years.
Ray's wood stove provided the only heat for the family during many a winter. His unique design was much admired by many, including a NASA scientist who used a photo of it in a book to demonstrate how Ray fashioned it with heat shields to reflect more heat in the room and tin cans that held water to help humidify the room. (Photo by: Connie Regan-Blake)
After 30 years of friendship, Ray's advice to Connie Regan-Blake was "Tell on, tell on!" (Photo by: Tom Raymond)
Ray passed away on April 20, 2003. Family and friends from around the country gathered at the homeplace to honor him and find comfort. (Photo by: Connie Regan-Blake)
Ray was buried across the road from the homeplace on sacred land where generations of the Hicks family have been laid to rest. (Photo by: Connie Regan-Blake)
Ray's cousin, Orville Hicks paying tribute to Ray.
Rosa visiting Ray's gravesite with flowers. Ray was buried next to his Mom, Rena. (Photo by: Connie Regan-Blake)
Connie Regan-Blake welcoming Rosa Hicks on stage at the National Storytelling Festival in 2003. The tent was filled with Ray's devoted fans, listeners and storytellers who gathered to remember him in story and song. (Photo by: Tom Raymond)
David Holt playing Amazing Grace at the memorial for Ray at the National Storytelling Festival. (Photo by: Tom Raymond)
Connie Regan-Blake, Rosa Hicks, and daughter Juanita with Ted. (Photo by: Vixi Jil Glenn)
"Now wonder if I ought to tell "Jack and the Heifer Hide" - or maybe they'd like 'The Snake Bit Hoe Handle." (Photo by: Hettie Barnes)
Ted carrying on his father's gift of storytelling for Connie Regan-Blake’s storytelling retreat participants. (Photo by: Connie)
Rosa signing copies of Ray's book, "The Jack Tales: Stories by Ray Hicks." (Photo by: Hettie Barnes)
"Cut your wood and it warms you twicet." But when Ted had developed health challenges, a fund was started to raise money to build an addition to the home with kerosene heat and indoor plumbing. Thanks to all the contributors! That's a hex sign on the ceiling of the front porch. (Photo by: Connie Regan-Blake)
For almost 100 years, the Hicks family used this outhouse. Now Rosa says she's glad she doesn't have to walk out into the cold on a snowy night! (Photo by: Connie Regan-Blake)
Generations of Hicks looked out this kitchen window to the fields beyond. Now it has transformed into an entryway to the new addition.
Ted bridging the old cabin and the new addition. (Photo by: Connie Regan-Blake)
Oldest son Lenard surveying the progress. (Photo by: Connie Regan-Blake)
Ted heading up the hill for his ride into Boone, NC. His ongoing health challenges means 3 trips a week for dialysis. He says “it’s my part time job.” (Photo by: Connie Regan-Blake)
Rosa & her new puppies -
playful all around. (Photo by: Connie Regan-Blake)
Rosa, Lenard with friends Lauren Blake and Phil Blake who came to help. (Photo by: Connie Regan-Blake)
The quiet beauty of winter. (Photo by: Connie Regan-Blake)
Ted is pleased that the 'basement' under the new addition also serves as a root cellar.
Springtime brings a crop of corn and a completed addition. (Photo by: Connie Regan-Blake)
Hicks daughter with Connie Regan-Blake and Ted Hicks by Rosa's field of dahlias. Rosa knows that beauty is as necessary as corn bread.
Rosa and friends at the Jack Tale Festival, a benefit event for the Hicks family held for many years at Bolick Pottery in Blowing Rock, NC.
Rosa is as delighted as the crowd.