Obituary of Edward A Wicks

Edward A. Wicks, 95, passed away peacefully on December 27, 2018 in the Hilton Head area of South Carolina, where he and his wife Ann moved in 2014 to be closer to their daughters.

Ed was born on May 12, 1923 to parents Arabel “Mickey” (Morgan) and William P. Wicks Sr. in Queens, N.Y.  He was one of six children.  Ed attended New York City public schools and, to support the war effort during WWII, assisted his father teaching welding to young people, which was essential in building ships and planes.

In his early twenties, Ed met his soon-to-be bride Ann Martinus, who had studied voice at Julliard.  Their mutual love of classical music was to be their bond, from their marriage in 1948, throughout the 70 years of their life together. 

Ed, Ann and the Wicks families moved to Danbury, Connecticut in the early 1950’s, where he and his brother Bill continued the welding and sheet metal fabrication business as “Wicks Products”. Years after the brothers retired, Ed’s grandson Nicholas Wicks Moreau revived the business and, using his grandfather’s tools, now enhances the family legacy as an artist blacksmith and owner of “Wicks Forge”.

Ed and his family attended the Long Ridge Methodist Church in Danbury, and had frequent Sunday suppers at Wicks Manor with their friend Father John, a Franciscan priest of St. Anthony’s Guild.  Ed was also a member of the Bridgeport Jewish Community Center and the Danbury Lion’s Club.  Ann and Ed were active in the Danbury Music Centre, with Ed once serving as President of the board and later as an honorary member.  Over the years, and as their three children grew up, Ann, Ed and family all participated in church and community concerts; Ed on the cello, Ann singing, Wendy singing and playing organ, and Joan and Rebecca (aka Maddisen) playing violin and viola; for years under the strict guidance of John F. Burnett and chorus director James E. Humphreville. 

Remembering Ed

New Yorker turns Yankee:  What began as a one-time family vacation to Vermont turned into an annual trek to the Brunelle Farm in Brownington, and later to Eugene and Nancy’s home in Milton.  Ed was in his glory throwing bales of hay and tapping trees for maple syrup.  Ann, Ed, Eugene and Nancy continued that friendship which lasted Ed’s entire lifetime. 

Homebody gets travel bug:  Perhaps it was the visit to Greece in the early 70’s where Ann’s sister Trudy Collins and family were living, while brother-in-law Jack worked for the Foreign Service.  But the bug soon bit, because Ann and Ed became world travelers, visiting Israel, Egypt, Europe, the United Kingdom (Ed claimed to be of Scottish and Irish heritage), the Mediterranean and Caribbean, with 17 cruises scratched onto their belts.  Ann documented it all in photo albums while Ed brought home rocks, labeled them and placed them around the fireplace in their Connecticut home. 

Soup?  There were once chestnut trees on the Wicks family’s 90-acre property which had been planted by Ed’s father.  These eventually became the root of Ed’s famous Yankee Chestnut Soup; a tradition that would be reported in the News-Times at Thanksgiving time, and which was an essential part of the Wicks’ holiday dinner menu.

The Patent, April 19, 1983:  One of Ed’s greatest accomplishments (as well as a great disappointment) was his life-saving patented invention: the “Wicks Lifeline Air System” – “a method and system for providing life-sustaining air to persons entrapped within a burning building.” Most deaths in high rise fires are not from fire itself but from smoke. (On November 21, 1980, a fire broke out in the MGM Grand Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, killing 85 people, most through smoke inhalation.)  Ed’s invention was tested at Johns Hopkins and given a seal of approval by BOCA (Building Officials Code Administrators International).  Unfortunately, the system was never successfully commercialized.

Craftsman turned luthier repairs a Stradivarius:  In the early ‘60’s, Ed brought his daughter Joan to John Burnett’s home in West Redding for weekly violin lessons.  Ed would sit and wait through the lessons, and then they would return home.  One day, John Burnett handed Ed a broken cello and said, “Make yourself useful.”  Through that beat-up cello and many instruments later, Ed became a luthier -- a repairer of string instruments. Over the years, Ed repaired hundreds of violins, violas, cellos, base fiddles and bows.  For children, many times the cost was a cake or homemade cookies.  (He also learned to play the cello and became a member of the Danbury Symphony Orchestra.)  One day in 1983, there came a knock on the door, and Julian Altman appeared with a violin in need of repair.  He claimed it was a Stradivarius copy.  Ed would repair the instrument, and become its guardian for a spell.  As it turned out  (and later retold in detail by James Pegolotti in the News-Times on April 18, 2004), the violin was in fact the stolen Gibson/Huberman Stradivarius.  The virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell would become its owner, and in 2004, after a concert at Caramoor, Ed would meet Joshua and hold the Stradivarius one last time.  Meeting Joshua Bell and being part of the history of that incredible instrument was one of the highlights of Ed’s life.

Ed is survived by his wife Ann, daughter Wendy Gordon, daughter Joan Moreau McKeever and son-in-law Tom McKeever, daughter Maddisen Krown, grandson Bill Hull, his wife Kim and great-grandsons Caleb and Hayden; grandson Edward Hull, his wife Valerie and great-granddaughter Zalena; grandson Brandon Wicks Moreau and wife Samantha, grandson Nicholas Wicks Moreau; brother Don Wicks, sister-in-law Luise and nieces Diane and Barbara and families; sister-in-law Trudy Collins, nephew Stephen Collins and family; sister-in-law Chris Wicks and nieces Tiffany and Reagan and families; sister-in-law Mildred Wicks, nieces Linda, Adair and nephew Billy and their families; cousins Janet, Clifford, Lois and their families.  Ed was predeceased by his brothers Bill, Gerard and Herbie, sister Arabel, sister-in-law Sonya, Uncle Artie, Margaret and their son Richie Morgan, cousin Betty Morgan, brother-in-law Jack Collins and niece Marine Corp Lance Corporal Suzanne Marie Collins. Ed will be greatly missed by his family and large circle of friends in Connecticut, South Carolina and beyond.    

A Celebration-of-Life service will be held at a later date.  Memorial donations may be made to Wounded Warriors Family Support www.wwfs.org, Danbury Music Centre http://danburymusiccentre.org/ or any charitable or non-profit organization of choice. Please mail condolence cards to Ann Wicks c/o Island Funeral Home, 4 Cardinal Road, Hilton Head Island, SC 29926.