“Be still and know that I am God.” -Psalm 46:10 (Cricket’s life verse)
Cricket Hayes Mullins, beloved wife, mother, Granny, and friend, passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on Thursday, October 31, 2024. Born April 5, 1951, Cricket dedicated her life to her Faith, family, and community.
Cricket is survived by her husband and best friend, Rickey, with whom she shared almost 55 wonderful years of marriage (11/27/1970). As a young couple, they built a loving home in Calhoun, Georgia where they raised their two daughters: Sandra (Jeff) of Attalla and Stephanie of Gadsden. Cricket was a proud Granny to Mackenzie (Jacob), Keegan (Mary), and Rickey (Addie). She was an endearing Great-Granny to Jo, Isla, Mack, August, and Eden. Cricket is also survived by her brother Lee (Maggie), sister-in-law Sally (Tony), her son-in-love Robert (Melinda), and her sister Connie.
Cricket is preceded in death by her parents, Jimmy and Nita Hayes and her beloved grandparents Jerome and Addie Durham.
She spent her days tending to her home, checking on her friends, studying God’s Word, listening to music, bragging on her children, playing practical jokes, and gardening. She found Peace in nature and enjoyed mowing her lawn. Her yard was a sanctuary for her and Rickey. Throughout her life, no matter what church she found herself planted in, Cricket was actively involved. Whether she was arranging flowers for the front table, decorating for Christmas/Easter, organizing a social, teaching Sunday school, discipling youth, or singing in the choir, she could always be found near the front row wearing the biggest smile in the building with her arms open wide ready to give away the warmest hugs.
She and Rickey spent 17 years in Saudi Arabia, where she hosted the most elaborate Thanksgiving dinners for their expat friends. She shared her recipes for buttermilk biscuits, cornbread dressing, and Senator Russell’s sweet potato casserole which were highly sought after, and are sure to grace the tables of friends all over the world to this day! Most importantly, while in Saudi, she shared her love of Jesus with everyone she encountered.
The joys of her life were Jesus, Rickey and her children. You did not have to know her long or well to figure that out. She made it her life’s mission to see the unseen and care for those the world would cast out. Her heart was bigger than life, just like her bright smile and infectious laughter. She befriended everyone she met and never knew a stranger. She had a way that put people at ease and made them feel like the favorite, and she delighted to be called “Granny” and “Momma” by many. To her, Love was not limited to blood, and that Legacy lives on in her children and their children.
She was a prankster, too! She loved to laugh and it delighted her soul to share a belly laugh with a friend. She took it to heart that “laughter is good medicine” and used it as a bridge to lead many hearts to Jesus.
The Kingdom is greater because of her life. Her absence here will leave a huge void in the lives of all who love her, but for Cricket, death has no sting. She is experiencing unspeakable joy face-to-face with her Savior.
A Celebration of Life will be held at Siberton Baptist Church in Attalla on Sunday, November 17 at 4:00 pm with a fellowship meal from 5-6:00 pm. The family will receive visitors from 3-4:00 pm prior to the service in the sanctuary.
In lieu of flowers, it was Cricket’s living hope and final wish that all who knew her would join her in Heaven “some glad morning.” It would honor her memory the most for you to give your life to Jesus if you have not already. If you have, she wants you to know, “She will meet you There or in the air!”
