"You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever. - Psalm 30:11-12

Our beloved mother, sister, grandmother and aunt, Evelyn Lena Hicklin, departed this life on August 8, 2026 at 11:04pm while at Alameda Hospital. She spent the last four years of her life living in Oakland, California shortly after she was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia with Lewy bodies in July 2022. It is an aggressive form of dementia.

Evelyn was born in Chesapeake, Virginia where she lived until she moved to Los Angeles, California to marry Leroy Hicklin when she was 21 years old. Two years later she gave birth to her only daughter, Yvette Hicklin James. Evelyn accepted Christ early in life and never stopped serving and loving the Lord her entire life. She attributed her faith with getting her through becoming a single parent and raising a child where she did not have any of her birth family. Evelyn maintained a relationship with the Hicklin clan as a result of her being "alone in California after her divorce." She never complained about her life journey.

Evelyn worked for the Los Angeles Public Health Department for 42 years in a public health lab where she befriended all of her coworkers. She was well loved and known for greeting everyone with a smile. She was usually the first one at work and would often take younger clerks under her wing when they started their careers. When she retired in March 2015 she was able to help her younger brother, Arthur Morris Mann, care for their aging father who was moved to be closer to her brother (a retired Army nurse) in Oklahoma. Their father also had Alzheimer's disease but lived until he was 94 years old mostly due to the care of his son, Arthur Morris Mann. 

Evelyn is preceded in death by her mother Lena Mann, her father Arthur Elton Mann, her older brother Manuel (June) Cowell, and her younger brother, Alvin Winford Mann. She leaves to cherish her memories her daughter, Dr. Yvette (Hicklin) James, her son-in-law, Leslie Howard James, and her granddaughter, Gabe C. James of Oakland, CA; and her brother, Arthur Morris Mann of Chester, Virginia.