Scholarship memorializes special Freehold graduate
Lisa Hoebee Hickson was 1984 graduate; studied at Rutgers
BY PATRICIA YOCZIS Correspondent
Marie and Robert Hoebee remember their daughter, Lisa, participating in the band and the drama club at Freehold High School, Freehold Borough. Steven Hickson, Lisa's husband, remembers education and helping teens and students as a big part of Lisa's life.

Tragically, Lisa Hoebee Hickson, a 1984 Freehold High School graduate, died in April 2006 at the age of 40 after a two-year battle with breast cancer.

So that her memory, life goals and the awareness of breast cancer will not be forgotten, her parents and husband have established an annual $5,000 Lisa Hoebee Hickson Memorial Scholarship.

The scholarship will be available to a female FHS graduate who plans to major in social science or a science-related field at Rutgers University, Lisa's undergraduate alma mater.

"Not only do we want to memorialize Lisa and the good that she did," said Robert Hoebee, a partner in the international advertising company, Studio 21 Inc., Parsippany, "but in these financial times we want to give deserving female graduates assistance in their career choices, especially in science. Maybe they will find the key to cure breast cancer."

Hoebee said the family wants objectivity in the selection of the recipient and have chosen Scholarship Management Services in Minnesota to administer the scholarship. The memorial scholarship will be perpetually financed, given as a one-time annual award and each year a new female FHS student will be selected for assistance in fulltime undergraduate study at Rutgers.

"Lisa loved to help people," said Marie Hoebee. "Even when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she started right away to help other women cope and to raise awareness of the disease. She was a people person who wanted to help whenever and wherever she could."

Her mother said Lisa was directed to Pathways in Summit, a support group for women with cancer, including breast cancer, and their families.

"The members of Pathways were wonderful," said Marie Hoebee. "They would bring soup or help in any way they could. A Pathways member even painted from a photograph a picture of Lisa and me at our last Christmas together."

According to Steven Hickson, he and Lisa met when they were sophomores at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

Lisa earned a bachelor's degree in psychology, while Steven earned baccalaureate degrees by undertaking a double major in English and communications. Lisa and Steven were married in Rutgers' Kirkpatrick Chapel in 1992 and became lifelong Rutgers supporters.

Lisa went on to earn a master's degree in education from Cambridge College where she taught and at Bay State College, both in Boston. Also, she worked for Catholic Charities in Boston.

She was the director of the outpatient mental health clinic at Jersey City Medical Center and was a social worker for many years counseling teens and their families.

In 2004, Lisa was starting to set up her own psychotherapy practice and the couple was in the process of starting adoption proceedings when her breast cancer was diagnosed.

"Since education was a big part of her life and her goals, a memorial scholarship was an easy choice," said Hickson, an advertising executive who resides in South Orange. "The scholarship helps talented students pursue their dreams."

In addition to the scholarship, Hickson organizes an annual Lisa Hoebee Hickson Golf Tournament at the Fox Hollow Golf Club in Branchburg. The event takes place in October.

"This will be the fourth annual tournament and the proceeds benefit Pathways in Summit," he said.

Hickson is scheduled to present the first Lisa Hoebee Hickson Memorial Scholarship at the Freehold High School awards dinner to be held at the high school June 4.

FHS Principal Linda Jewell said the new $5,000 scholarship is a substantial one that will make a difference in the recipient's life and is very powerful.

"All memorial scholarships are powerful because we briefly talk about the individuals for whom the scholarships are named and the legacies that live on," she said. "While someone benefits and accepts the burden of responsibility for the scholarship, we are all (families, teachers and friends) reminded of our loss. It's a difficult part of the awards evening."

Jewell did not personally know Lisa, but she said others, including teachers, told her Lisa was an exceptional woman, talented, passionate and a gregarious person full of life.

"I heard these words only in superlatives about Lisa," she said.

About a week or so after the awards dinner, Robert Hoebee said, the family intends to take the recipient of their scholarship out to dinner.

Marie and Robert Hoebee, who resided in Freehold Township for more than 30 years, now reside in Forked River, Ocean County. All of their children are Freehold High School graduates: Robert Jr. in New York City, who is a chef on the Food Network, and Julie in Somerville, who was a physical education teacher and coach at Howell High School for more than 20 years and is now an assistant principal at West Essex High School in Caldwell.

Their son, Mark, the artistic director of the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, was inducted in 2008 into the Freehold High School Hall of Fame. He and his life partner, Larry Elardo, reside in Maplewood with their children, Stephen and Ashley.