When I came into this world in 1939, my mom and dad were living in the Georgetown area of Washington, DC. My dad was manager of the Georgetown Sears Roebuck store.
Their neighbors and best friends were Bill and Em Stickney, I called them Aunt Em and Uncle Bill for many years of my life. They remained very close friends of our family, even though we moved to NYC shortly after I was born. My dad was transferred to NYC to manage the Jackson Heights Sears store.
Uncle Bill graduated from Dartmouth College. But his early civilian career was interrupted by the inconvenience of World War 2. He became a US Marine Corps officer after Pearl Harbor and was promoted to the rank of colonel by the end of that horrible war. He was a true hero of Guadalcanal, and I heard many war stories about him from my mom while growing up. He remained in the Marine Corps Reserves while pursuing a successful law career. He retired from the Marines as a Major General when I was at Brooklyn College.
My mom and I made several train trips from NYC to visit them in Bethesda, Maryland, as we remained very close friends.
Uncle Bill’s brother, John also graduated from Dartmouth, but took another career route. He became an esteemed cardiologist in NYC. Uncle John and his wife, my Aunt Mabel, were also very close to my dad and mom and remained close to my mom well after my dad passed. We spent several Thanksgiving dinners with them over my entire growing up era.
I don’t know if the third Stickney brother went to Dartmouth or not, but my Uncle Dan Stickney was a bachelor, a Merchant Marine, a sometimes drunk, an artist, a helluva story teller, and the most fun Stickney brother, by far. He visited us frequently in NYC, was never drunk in my presence (I don’t think) and was an avid Yankee fan. He took me to several Yankees games and one Giants game. He bought me a souvenir autographed baseball by the entire NY Yankee team of circa 1953. I still have that ball 70 years later.
I think Uncle Dan had a crush on my mom. So did Uncles Frank, Lou, Ted and Howie. I had several uncles who were close friends of the family. My mom was a very attractive “widow lady”.
On a side and closing note, another relative (cousin) of the Stickney brothers was the famed Broadway actress, Dorothy Stickney. Whenever she was on TV we got at alert from my Uncle John. You can Google her if you wish. Enuf