Syblann "Syb" Smith Gullickson

Syblann "Syb" Gullickson, 88, died April 15, 2018, at Banner Baywood Heart Hospital in Mesa, Ariz., after a short illness.

Syblann Smith was born Dec. 9, 1929, in Bottineau, N.D., to Raymond and Bertha Dickinson Smith. The family, including her brother Dickinson, moved around North Dakota, living in Bismarck, Minot and Casselton before moving to Grand Forks, where she graduated from high school in 1948.

She attended the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, then graduated from St. Cloud (Minn.) State University, where she met her husband, Will Gullickson. They married on June 3, 1951, in Grand Forks. They lived in Troy, Ala., and Willmar, Minn., before moving to Fargo and then Moorhead.

She worked as a writer and columnist for the Red River Scene, a weekly newspaper in Moorhead, then at The Forum in Fargo, where she wrote features that won state and national awards. She was named editor of the Lifestyle Department.

She was active in the North Dakota Press Women/Professional Communicators, serving as president of the organization in 1977 and 1978. She also coordinated the group's state and national contests for several years. She was named the state group's Communicator of Achievement in 1990. She retired in 1995 and moved to Mesa, Ariz., and spent summers at Lake Washington near Mankato, Minn.

In Moorhead, she was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, serving as a Sunday school teacher and member of the Session. In Mesa, she was a member of Church of the Master Presbyterian Church.

She volunteered at the church food bank in Mesa and libraries in the Dreamland Villa retirement community and Mankato. At Dreamland Villa, she formerly was on the community's board of directors, was a member of the garden club and delivered the community's newspaper.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Will Gullickson, in 1990.

She is survived by three sons, Glenn Gullickson of Phoenix, Roger (Rock) Gullickson and his wife Terry of St. Charles, Mo., and Tedd Gullickson and his wife Lori of Burnsville, Minn; one brother, Dickinson Smith and his wife Luanne of Bainbridge Island, Wash.; two grandsons and two great-grandchildren, Dan Gullickson and his wife Bre of Omaha, Neb., and Matt Gullickson and his wife Lisa of Eagan, Minn., and their children, Grace and Paul.

Memorials may be directed to a project with Tedd's Calhoun-Isles Community Band.

A Visitation for Syb will be Monday from 9:30 AM until 11:00 AM at the church

Her Funeral Service will be Monday, April 23, 2018, at 11:00 AM, in First Presbyterian Church, Moorhead.

Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery, Fargo.