A Remembrance of Irene Hickman
1915 - 2002

Nadine Stoner

[Reprinted from GroundSwell, 2002]

Irene Hickman died Nov. 5, 2002 at the North- west Regional (Osteopathic) Medical Center in Kirksville, MO, where she had been hospitalized for several days following a stroke. With her at the time of her demise were her eldest son, Shelley Giles, and her friend and associate Gus Philpott. A Gathering of Friends was held at her home in Kirksville, MO on November 13, 2002.

Irene is best known to Georgists for her ground- breaking efforts at land value assessment after she was elected as Sacramento, CA county property tax assessor in 1966. Ted Gwartney, her assistant then, says she did it by following the law. "Assessments are to be at a proportion of market value. Land values increase each year while building values decline or increase only at the rate of building cost inflation. By reassessing land each year you shift taxes from buildings to land. Most assessors don't follow the law and tend to shift taxes onto buildings and off of land."

Irene attended Council of Georgist Organizations annual conferences with her husband Jack Hickman in 1985 in St. Louis and in 1986 in Vancouver, BC. Jack predeceased her. Irene attended the Georgist conferences in 1993 in Los Angeles, in 1994 in Fairhope, AL, in 1995 in Evanston, IL, and in 2000 in Des Moines, IA.

From Irene's obituary emailed by her son (and Common Ground-USA member) Woody Giles and from some of Irene's professional releases forwarded by Sue Walton to GroundSwell, your editor has the following information.

Irene was born May 21, 1915 in Clariton, IA to Urban and Effie (Ray) Hill. She received her BA degree from Simpson College, Indianola, IA in 1938. As the mother of two young children, Irene graduated in 1949 as a Doctor of Osteopathy from the (now-defunct) College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons in Los Angeles, empowering her to "use any and all methods of treating the sick." She discovered for herself the benefits of hypnotherapy. Later in her life, she founded and then became a consultant of the National Society of Hypnotherapists. She is a past president of the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association. She is the author of "Mind Probe - Hypnosis", 1983 (7th printing in 1995); and "Remote Depossession", 1994.

Irene is survived by three sons, Allan Hickman of Ottumwa, IA; Sherwood "Woody" Giles of Casper, WY; and Shelley Giles of San Jose, CA. She is also survived by one brother, Raymond Hill of White Pigeon, MI, and several grand children and great grandchildren.