Sylvester Rickers

Sylvester "Syl" Rickers, 76, Moorhead, MN, died on Friday, September 18, 2009, in his home under the care of Hospice of the Red River Valley. Syl was born on February 7, 1933, at Emett, ND, to John and Barbara Braun Rickers. He grew up and attended school at Emett until the eighth grade and then graduated from Hitterdal MN High School in 1952. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1953 until 1956. He returned to Fargo and married Frances Aberle on August 20, 1956. They made their home in Moorhead. Syl worked as a experimental tech at Branick Manufacturing in Fargo for forty two years, retiring on July 1, 1996. He was an avid hunter, travelling to Montana and Wyoming on hunting trips for thirty-five years. He had been a long-time member of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Moorhead; was a life member of the Moorhead V.F.W., the Marine Corps League and the Military Order Cooties. He was also a member of the American Legion.Syl is survived by his wife, Fran Rickers, Moorhead; two sons, Jerry Rickers, Leesburg, VA, and Tom Deborah Rickers, Sartell, MN; three daughters, Sylvia Jon Lein, Moorhead, Kathy Merle Fischer, Fridley, MN, and Janette Gerry Grimes, Newcastle, PA; twelve grandchildren; sisters, Evelyn Kerzmann, Minot, ND, Marlene Silbernagel, Perham, MN, Joan Safgren, Sabin, MN, and Virginia Jim Heaton, Scobey, MT. He was preceded in death by his brother, Lenus Rickers and his sister, Alvera Rickers.