Onsy Bee "Westley" Whicker

Onsy Bee “Westley” Whicker, 85, passed away at his home on Tuesday, September 26, 2017. Viewing will be Friday morning, September 29, 2017, at Tabernacle Baptist Church, 115 West 11th, Roswell, NM, at 9:00 AM until 10:00 AM. A traditional Funeral Service will immediately follow at 10:00 AM, also at Tabernacle Baptist Church. Interment will be at South Park Cemetery. A tribute of Onsy’s life may be found at www.andersonbethany.com where you may leave memories and expressions of sympathy for his family. On June 24, 1932, Onsy was born to William Sydney Whicker and Mary Gladys Coleman Whicker in Lookout, Kentucky. As a young man, he liked to drive fast which earned him the nickname Speedy. Onsy tried enlisting in the Army but was too light, by one pound. He went home, ate some bananas, came back and was able to enlist on September 1, 1948. He first trained in Fort Knox, Kentucky, for basic training. Onsy then trained in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to run an air compressor and then to be a heavy vehicle mechanic. This fort was home of the Army Engineers and his training was to work on (among other things) engineer equipment such as bulldozers. He served in Korea during the Korean conflict, assigned to the 536th Engineer Field Maintenance Company. Onsy left the service as a Technical Sergeant on December 20, 1952. He had served in a Master Sergeant position and earned the following awards for his service: Good Conduct Medal, United Nations Medal, and the Korean Service Medal. Onsy met Betty while attending the Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri, where he graduated in 1956. They were married that same year. After being ordained in March 1957, he and Betty went to Korea (area of Pusan, Korea) as missionaries where they served from November 1959 to July 1972. There, he and Betty founded twenty-three churches and a Bible college. Upon returning to the United States, Onsy pastored a church in Tacoma, Washington. He received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity from the Baptist Bible College on September 4, 1973. Onsy was also made an Honorary Kentucky Colonel in May 1976. He later moved to Roswell, New Mexico, where Onsy pastored Tabernacle Baptist Church for twenty-five years, until he retired. Loved ones surviving to cherish Onsy’s memory are his sons: Steve, Randy and Ken Whicker; grandchildren: Starla Whicker, Justin Whicker, Joshua Whicker, Heather Whicker, Jered Whicker, Aaron Whicker, Sara Moyer; brother, Lloyd Whicker; and numerous nephews and nieces. Preceding Onsy in death were his wife, Betty E. Whicker; daughter, Starla Ruth Whicker; grandson, Jeremy Stephen Whicker; parents: William Sydney Whicker, Mary Gladys Coleman Whicker; siblings: Milford Whicker, Bradley Whicker, Clifford Whicker, Delbert Whicker, Billie Jane and Bartley Whicker. In Lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Tabernacle Baptist Church Bus Ministry. This tribute was lovingly written in honor of Onsy by his family.

Onsy Bee "Westley" Whicker

June 24, 1932 - September 26, 2017