Seymour “Sy” Thickman

June 4, 1923 – December 21, 2023

‍The Thickman family wishes to express our deepest gratitude and appreciation to the VA Care Team for taking such good care of our father for the past six months. We also want to thank Dad’s many friends who made regular visits to the Mountain View Living Center to spend time with him. He so loved and enjoyed each of you.

As many of you know, our dad had very particular thoughts about life and how it should be lived, as well as death and how that should be handled. He believed that life should be lived to the fullest, that each person should be productive, and that each of us should contribute to making one’s community and humanity better. He also felt that dealing with death, especially mourning a loved one, was a very personal act—one to take place not in public, but rather in the privacy of one’s own thoughts and memories. When he spoke about death, what Dad most hoped for was that when friends and family thought of him, it would bring a smile to their faces. To that end, here is the obituary he wrote:

It’s been many a year I must admit

A tale of my life I’ll now submit

It would be best not to omit

This passage of being, a short obit

I was born on June 4, 1923, in Brooklyn, NY. My parents Bernard and Rebecca, each from varying areas of Ukraine, immigrated to the United States via Ellis Island at the turn of the 20^th century. I had two older brothers, Albert and Daniel, and a younger sister Marlene. They have all preceded me in death.

As a young boy growing up in Brooklyn, my mother tended to our family while Dad worked and attended night school. My dad graduated as an electrical engineer from Cooper Union, NY, and worked for over 30 years as the State Chief of Track and Structures for NYC’s public transportation system during the Depression and WWII.

After graduating early from the NYC public schools, I crossed west of the Hudson River for the first time and attended Union College in Schenectady, NY, on scholarship. I graduated in 1943, and immediately entered the US Army, where I received medical school training, and graduated as an MD in 1946. I married Muriel Helfman the same year. After five years of post-graduate coursework, I received my Board of Internal Medicine Certification. I was then recalled for army service during the Korean War.

After military discharge, a pediatrician friend kept calling me to ask if I’d be interested in joining the Schunk Clinic of Sheridan, WY. He wanted me to help him create a group of medical specialists. Muriel and I thought the idea might present an interesting change of culture and we were excited about the idea of living in a small community. We accepted the offer.

We arrived in WY at the time Sheridan had just earned the title of All-American City. We were very welcomed by the community. Medicine, at the time, was enjoying dramatic growth—evolving from a profession of limited interventions, to one based on scientific advances. These developments allowed docs to provide better medical assistance and cures for the ill. Being a doctor was very satisfying and gave me an opportunity to get to know the community. Muriel and I loved being a part of Sheridan.

During my career, I reflect on two particular incidents of good fortune. As a board member of the American College of Cardiology, I had the occasion to meet and shake hands with President Dwight Eisenhower in Gettysburg, PA. The other good fortune occurred in 1984, in Sheridan, when I was selected to be the “local physician” for the late Queen Elizabeth II. At the end of her stay, Muriel and I and some other Sheridanites enjoyed dinner with the Queen at the former Maverick Supper Club.

On a personal level, Muriel and I had the joy, pride, and love of our children and maritals – David (Jaleh), Meg (Lisa), Erika, deceased, (Matt), Jeff (Igor); our grandchildren Miriam (GM), and Ira (Stella); and our great-granddaughter, Eliza.

What I leave behind is not engraved in stone monuments, but rather what production, honesty, experience, and trust provided me—a lifetime of happiness that was shared with my family, friends, and patients. It all made me a better person.

I will not have a funeral or formal burial. I will join Muriel, my wife of 54 years, at the Colorado Anatomical Board for study, research and interment.

At my time of death

Without any pulse or breath

I’ll be driven toward

The Colorado Anatomical Board

Kane Funeral Home has been entrusted with local arrangements. Online condolences may be written at www.kanefuneral.com.