Obituaries
Dr. Seymour Thickman
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 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 20th 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 doctors to provide better medical assistance and cures for the ill. Being a doctor was very satisfying and allowed me 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.
Jack Livingston
December 22, 2023 at 11:23 am
He was a first class citizen and a first class doctor.
Kenneth L Heuermann
December 22, 2023 at 4:32 pm
It was such a pleasure to know this man. Our community will miss his gentle generosity. He was a bright lantern of deep thinking and gentle ways. I learned a lot when he was in “Clippin Clay’s tonsorial palace”. Thank You Sy, being around you made us better…..
Connie Kukal
December 22, 2023 at 4:42 pm
I remember working with him at the free clinic in Sheridan. He was a kind and generous man with his time. He was a great advocate for our city. I hope you are in the arms of Jesus. You will be missed
Karen
December 22, 2023 at 7:36 pm
I first met Dr. Thickman at Sheridan College where we were sharing a science class, Astronomy. He told me he was taking the class to keep learning, and not for any credits. He was such a kind a genuine man. I will never forget him telling me to just keep learning and that it will matter in end. Rest in peace.
steve olver
December 22, 2023 at 7:37 pm
My doctor since The 70s’s a Fantastic Doctor and Person.
John Nowak
December 22, 2023 at 8:16 pm
I remember Dr. Thickman very well and appreciated all the care he gave me and my family. He took the time to answer a young, curious child’s questions while diagnosing him and puttingbin some stiches. He always had a kind word for us when we saw him in the community. I am glad to have known him.
Kris Walker
December 23, 2023 at 8:08 am
Dr. Thickman was the only person who would be honest with me and give me the information I needed to know about my health. He was a noble man who truly cared about people. Peace be with you Dr. Thickman.
Howard Donnelly
December 23, 2023 at 10:34 am
Dr. Thickman was one of the finest men I ever met.
Ward A Cotton
December 23, 2023 at 1:44 pm
Travel well old friend, Thanks for being my doctor from youth to old age, Thanks for good advise even if I did not always follow it, You did outstanding service to the community and nation.
Claire and David Fisher
December 24, 2023 at 8:57 am
An inspiring doctor, humanist, and father to so many. He touched people he did not even know and we thank him for that.
David Stevenson
December 24, 2023 at 2:13 pm
Sy, as many called him was a huge benefit to the Sheridan community. He took care of many and had a great ‘bedside’ manner. He spent much time helping at Eventide. RIP
Rhonda and Jim Fletchall
December 24, 2023 at 3:01 pm
Dr Thickman was a smart, engaging man and a fantastic Dr! He diagnosed my Celiac disease after years of pain and frustration, and numerous other doctors missed the correct diagnosis. My husband and I remain grateful to him. Our condolences to the family.
Barbara Walter
December 25, 2023 at 8:01 pm
With all of Dr Thickman’s accomplishments it was on the Green House nursing home that I worked with him on the fund raising part of the project. It took us 10 years to accomplish our goal and to see the cottages built, the staff hired and doors open to our first elders. It was and always will be a tribute to him and his desire to care for people. Until the day he died he was totally committed to helping others and to promote social causes he believed in. Great admiration and love to a wonderful man.
Dale Buckley
December 26, 2023 at 2:20 pm
Rest in peace Dr. Thickman.
Steve Olver
December 27, 2023 at 9:11 am
yes He was.❤️ Our Family Doctor,then my Dad’s V.A. Doctor.Dr.Thickman was a huge part of Sheridan’s free medical clinic.Dr Thickman drove and delivered for meals on wheels for many years.
steve olver
December 27, 2023 at 9:20 am
at 13 yrs old i went to Dr Thickman with a horrible ear ache; I told Him ” I think its an infection”” De Thickman examined my ear,and said “” Youngman, You have one hell of an ear infection”❤️ my Dad was there.My Dad loved Dr Thickman.Striaght to the point ,a fantastic Doctor, a beyond Great Sheridan Treasure
Kathie Schonenbach
December 27, 2023 at 9:27 am
Dr Thickman was so instrumental in helping start the Free Clinic in Sheridan. His advice and opinion was so helpful. He was a friend.
Russell Maxwell
December 28, 2023 at 11:59 pm
I’m a veteran who remembers him from the Sheridan VA years ago. I remember him to be a very kind and genuine person.
I remembered him to be very modest and caring.
I remember people remark how he drove an old car, a Volvo I think and lived in a small log house here in town, not like many other doctors I’ve known of.
God bless you and your family Dr Thickman.
J.D. Weinberg
December 29, 2023 at 10:04 am
A celebration of a century of life is the best way to express our feelings about Seymour Thickman. My parents, Morris and Sallee Weinberg knew Sy after my Dad changed doctors from Dr. Pete Schunk to Sy in the late 1950’s. My mom, being a nurse worked sometimes with Sy Thickman at the Sheridan Memorial Hospital. I’ll never forget when I had a serious accident around 1963 when I was in junior high in Clearmont, Wyoming when the ambulance took me into the Sheridan Memorial Hospital and Sy was there to treat me.
Throughout the years Sy has faded in and out of my life. My dad and mom on several occasions had Sy and Muriel over for dinner along with Dr. Martin Kamen, a renowned biochemist, who authored “The Tracer Experiment” about Carbon-14 and “Radiant Science,Dark Politics”. This group of people relished in their commaraderie with each other. Sy as I mentioned in the later 1990s and into the 21st Century lost direct contact with me as many adverse happenings occurred as Muriel had died and also dad and mom both were deceased at the time. Some time went by until around 2007 when I got back in contact with Sy. At that time both my wife Susan and I were living in Flagstaff, Arizona and were preparing to move to Albuquerque where we stayed for ten years.From Albuquerque, Sy Thickman once again was very instrumental in helping us make our final move to Laurel,Montana. We stayed over at his home on numerous occasions while this whole transition process was occurring.
Both Susan and I have stayed in contact with Sy for the past seven years that we have been in Laurel. Again, to all the family, but especially to Margaret “Meg” and Lisa, David and Jaleh, and Jeff and Igor,both Susan and I are thankful to have known Sy Thickman and to the joy and comfort he brought into our lives as well as many others.
Jeff Towner
January 30, 2024 at 7:11 am
Our family lived in Sheridan in the late 50’s. Our house was just down the street on Big Horn Ave. from the Thickman house. The eldest son, David, became my best boyhood friend, and I spent many hours playing with all the Thickman kids. Sy and his wife Muriel were always kind to me. One of my clearest memories of Sheridan was attending a production of The Diary of Anne Frank, in which Sy Thickman played Anne Frank’s father. As a grade school kid, that opened my eyes to a chapter of the 20th Century that had been unknown to me. In more recent times I and my wife and kids visited Sy a couple of times in Sheridan. We shared memories and just enjoyed being in one another’s company again. I will always remember him and miss him.