A son, a brother, an uncle and a friend, Terry Shane Hicks, 23, a Mississippi State University sociology graduate student died Sunday, Jan. 17.
Dan Mobley, Hicks’s roommate, said Hicks was always there to make everyone laugh.
“Shane was a happy person. You could be having the worst day and he would come in and be so uplifting,” Mobley said. “He always had something to say that would make you smile or laugh.”
Johnathan Chaney, Hicks’s roommate, said Hicks had been through a lot in his life, but he never let it show.
“He was the real definition of happy-go-lucky,” Chaney said. “You would have never known he had been through so much.”
Chaney said after living with eight people in one house, Hicks and his roommates were more like a family than just friends.
“The eight of us loved to just
sit in the den and just hang out,”
Chaney said. “And the goofy
roommate isn’t going to be there
anymore.” Mobley said the eight roommates
always enjoyed being
together.
“We always stuck together,”
Mobley said. “When you are
in a family, you don’t miss one
particular thing, you miss everything.”
Scott DeLoach, Hicks’s roommate,
said Hicks would do whatever
made him happy.
“Shane genuinely did not care
what other people thought about
him,” DeLoach said. “He just did
whatever made him happy.”
The roommates of “The 505”
said they are going to remember
all of the stories and memories.
“The memories he has provided
us with are what is going
to get us through this,” Chaney
said.
Mobley said all the memories
he has of Hicks are good.
“We were all penguins for
Halloween,” Mobley said. “We
wore our costumes to the Alabama
football game and ended up
being Fans of the Game. Then,
we wore them to the library rave
at the end of the semester. Shane
was just a lot of fun.”
DeLoach said he had a tendency
to make impulse purchases.
“We weren’t allowed to have
a dog at our house, so he just
went out and bought a hamster,”
DeLoach said. “He was always
doing things like that.”
Mobley said he would never
step down from a challenge.
“He woke up with a purpose
to make people happy, and he
never gave up,” Mobley said.
“You could get him to buy anything
just by telling him that he
wouldn’t do it.”
Chaney said the roommates’
goal is to remember Hicks
through all of the good times
they shared.
“We want to challenge everyone
to keep his legacy going,”
Chaney said. “We want everyone
to remember him and let
him live through us. And we
want everyone to wake up in the
morning with a purpose to make
everyone around you happy, like
Shane did.”
Chaney said he wants everyone
to remember Hicks for who
he was.
“Shane was a good friend, good
roommate and a great brother,”
Chaney said. “He was always
there for you.”