ani ruhama

It’s been three years today since Richard and Charlene Hicks, better known to me simply as Uncle Rich and Aunt Char, went home.  Though not related to our family by blood, they were as dearly loved as any “real” relative could have been.

In 1994, Rich and Char moved to Guyana, where they served for 11 years translating the New Testament into the language of the Wapishana people (numbering over 10,000 today).  On March 30, 2005, they were found brutally murdered at their home in Lethem, Guyana, only a few years before they would have seen the completed New Testament in the hands of the Wapishana people.  Wycliffe Bible Translators continues work on this project today.

Excerpts from a newspaper in Guyana:

At the San Jose ranch, they searched and found the woman’s body in bushes in the kitchen garden. Sources said the key to the vehicle the couple owned was found not too far from her body and it appeared that she tried in vain to flee her attackers who caught and severely beat hear with a heavy piece of wood. Police searched around for her husband but did not find him. But as day broke, they found his charred remains in the rubble of the house, the sources said. Lethem residents, baffled at the motive for the killing, said they were not known to have anything of much value in the humble house they had on the ranch spread and paid for goods and supplies by cheque.  

Uncle Rich and Aunt Char, those who’ve come behind you find you faithful indeed. You are missed.