Joseph William "Bill" Tikey

Bill was born on November 9, 1920 in Sharon, PA to Francis Martin and Frances Vtacnik Tikey, who immigrated to the USA from Bahon, Austria in the early 1900's. He had 7 sisters and one older brother (all deceased).

Bill was Valedictorian of his Hickory High School class and played varsity basketball, baseball, and soccer. He worked as an engineering draftsman at Westinghouse and was an all-star fast pitch softball player in the local industrial league. In January 1942, he volunteered in the Army Air Corps. He already had his CPT (Civilian Pilot's License) from night school at Youngstown College (Ohio).

Bill trained as a B-24 Bomber Pilot in Texas and the southwest, and flew his crew over to England in February 1944. He had a Lead Pathfinder crew of 12 and flew 30 leads over Europe in 1944. Bill led the entire 8th Air Force of approximately 1500 B-24 and B-17 bombers on a raid over Zeitz Germany with General Peck aboard. He also led 1 Division, 9 Wing, 8 Group, 3 Squadron, 5 Deputy Squadron, and 3 Element missions. In addition, Bill flew 3 fuel runs to supply General Patton's troops. His lead of the low altitude bombing strike on the Blois Bridge earned him the French Croix de Guerre Avec Etoile d'Argent (Cross of War with Silver Star). This is the highest award France can bestow on a non-Frenchman. In addition, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross (3 times), the Air Medal (9 times), and the Presidential Unit Citation (2 times) and the European Battle Star (4 times). In December 1944 Bill returned to the States and instructed B-17 and B-29 pilots at Courtland and Montgomery Alabama until VJ Day. In December 1945 he retired from the Air Force as a Major.

Bill returned to Carnegie Tech to earn an Aeronautical Engineering degree in 1947. He belonged to the Sigma Nu Fraternity and the Theta Tau Fraternity (an Honorary Engineering group) and was elected by the women on campus as the "King of Hearts".

Bill joined Sperry Gyroscope as a Field Engineer in early 1948. He married the beautiful Catherine Boyle and was blessed with 5 children. Barbara Tikey of Breckenridge, CO, Karen and Dr. Ken Downey of Dayton, Ohio, Dr. Bill and Sarah Tikey of Scottsdale, AZ, Dr. Mary Tikey of Destin, FL, and Anita and Tim Sexton of Austin, TX. Bill's wife Cathie passed away in 1986.

Bill was blessed with six grandchildren: Brian Downey (fiancé Sara Tobias) and Megan Downey, Rachel Tikey and Rebecca Tikey, and Kelsey Sexton (fiancé Daniel Rakes) and Jacob Sexton.

Bill was Midwest Director of Marketing for Sperry in Dayton (serving Wright Patterson AFB) and in St. Louis (serving McDonald Douglas) until retirement in 1984.

In 1952 Bill won the New York Journal American Newspaper contest for predicting the outcome of the Eisenhower-Stevenson Presidential election to win $5000. Bill correctly picked Ike to win all but 6 states with approximately 33 million votes.

Bill loved to compete in the St. Louis Senior Olympics and over 8 years won 9 Gold, Silver, or Bronze medals in the golf and bowling events. He was also proud that his team won the prestigious Wright Patterson Officer's Club Golf Calcutta Golf Tournament in 1962. Bill also won numerous golf and bowling league trophies.

Bill's hobbies were crosswords, Scrabble, jig saw puzzles, word games, bridge, poker and sports. He was his high school checkers champ and won every checkers tournament he entered since, never losing a game.

After 2003, Bill resided at the Heritage and Continental retirement communities in Austin, TX with his lovely companion, Marian Pelham (formerly of Jackson Michigan), before moving to the Summit complex. Marian passed away in 2012.

He will be buried with full military honors including participation by an honorary representative of the French Consulate at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri on Monday, November 18, 2013 at 10:00 am.

In keeping with his competitive spirit, Bill is currently organizing a poker tournament with St. Peter. Any bets on who will win?

The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Wounded Warrior Project at:

https://support.woundedwarriorproject.org/default.aspx?tsid=66