Salem Pioneer Cemetery ~ Stanton Michael Rickey ~ part of the Marion County Pioneer Cemeteries of Oregon
Stanton Michael Rickey
LAST NAME: Rickey FIRST NAME: Stanton MIDDLE NAME: Michael NICKNAME: 
MAIDEN NAME:  AKA 1:  AKA 2:  AKA 3: 
TITLE:  GENDER: M MILITARY: USAF WW II, Korean War, Viet Nam
BORN: 30 Oct 1920 DIED: 9 Nov 2021 BURIED: 11 Sep 2022
ETHNICITY:   OCCUPATION:  
BIRTH PLACE:  San Francisco, California
DEATH PLACE: Dallas Polk Co., Oregon
NOTES: 

Name of father - Thomas Boyd Rickey

Maiden name of mother - Laura Virginia Reardon

Ist MARRIAGE - Helen Patricia Sheehy, 10 Apr, 1943, Pine Bluff, Arkansas. (d. 11 Jun 19870

2nd MARRIAGE - Adeline (Smithson) Dyal, 1 Dec 1987

OBITUARY: 

Stanton Michael Rickey died at the age of 101 on Nov. 9, 2021 in Dallas, Oregon.

He was feisty old guy that the Nazi Luftwaffe failed to kill in 1944, but eventually succumbed to cancer.

Stanton was born in San Francisco, California, on Oct 30, 1920, to Thomas Boyd Rickey and Laura Virginia Reardon.

Stanton joined the U.S. Corps. Reserve in 1938 while still in high school and was called to active duty in Nov. 1940.

Stanton married his high school sweetheart, Helen Patricia Sheehy on April 10, 1943, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

They were married for 44 years. They were the parents of one son and four daughters: Thomas Boyd Rickey II (Sharon), Jo Ellen Gagliano (Steve), Claire Anne Addison, Michele Leilani Rickey-Pidd (Michael), Malia Helen Barrientos (Carlos). Stanton had 11 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Helen passed away June 11, 1987, in Honolulu, Hawaii, where they had made their home for over 25 years.

He served in the initial Marine Expeditionary Force B-17 as an aircraft commander; he flew 27 combat missions in Europe and participated in the first “shuttle raid” to the Soviet Union. He was the pilot of one of the 483rd heavy bombardment group’s 14 B-17s that was shot down during the climactic aerial battle of Memmingen, Germany, on July 18, 1944. He evaded for six days but was eventually captured while attempting to cross into Switzerland. He remained a POW at Stalag Luft One until liberated by advancing Soviet troops on May 1, 1945.

He was a three war veteran, including WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. His decorations included the Bronze Star Medal, Air Medals, USAF and Joint Command Medals. His Air Force career included working in intelligence, as a strategic target analyst, mission planner and war plan developer. He served at headquarters far east Air Force, HQ pacific Air Force, HQ Tactical Air Command and USAF War Games Division in the Pentagon.

Stanton was deeply involved in Genealogical research, he shared this hobby with his second wife, Adeline Smithson Dyal Rickey. They were married on Dec. 1, 1988. They lived in Salem, Oregon, until moving to Dallas, Oregon, in 2007.

Following a cremation, Stanton’s ashes will be interred in the historic Rickey family plot at Salem, Oregon, Pioneer Cemetery, and in the grave of his first wife at Punchbowl, The National Military Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Itemizer-Observer, 1 Dec 1921

INSCRIPTION: 
SOURCES: 

SPC Authoriation for Burial

Itemizer-Observer, 1 Dec 1921

CONTACTS: 
Stanton M. Rickey, 2128 SE Rhododendron Ave, Dallas, OR 97338
LOT: 037 SPACE: 4 NW LONGITUDE:  LATITUDE: