Lawrence J. Hickey

1944 - 2021

Larry Hickey was born April 15, 1944 to Joseph Hickey and Irene Ellenbarger Hickey of Wichita, Kansas. His sister is Cathy Hickey Adkins, and brother is Don Hickey. During his freshman year of high school, he joined Junior Achievement and was selected president of his JANCO company. He was elected KANSAS president of the year, then he was runner up for national Junior Achievement president of the year. He graduated Rockhurst University in 1966 with degrees in history, political science, and philosophy. Larry was married to Carol Schmidt in 1965. Their son, David, was born 1966. He was hired by the Department of the Air Force as an operations research specialist and, for seventeen months, was flown on forward combat and reconnaissance missions, reporting on the effects of combat and field missions in Vietnam. During this period, he lived in one of the royal households of the deposed Emperor of Vietnam. He was sent back to the United States, working under the National Intelligence Agency as an intelligence analyst for south Vietnam where he served on the Nation Security Panel under General Richard Steward, Deputy Director of Intelligence. In 1972, Larry was cited for his role as an expert analysist, including providing the first warning months before the communist opposition, which allowed the senior agency and White House to plan for enemy action. Also, in the face of considerate disagreement, Larry accurately predicted the timing of events which brought the Vietnam war to a cease fire. During this time period, Larry married Marilyn Wright. With the war coming to an end, Larry quit the government and moved to Colorado Springs entering into private business. He and his business partner, Dave Schneller, started Highland Arts and American Indians Arts which included cards and Indian jewelry. They moved to Boulder in 1977 where they started designing, manufacturing, and selling jewelry under VIMAR Colorado Gold corporation. Larry married Sue Steffens in 1980. Sue has two sons, Bob and Clint Steffens. VIMAR was moved to the Lafayette Tech Center where they were involved in several business ventures, with Larry and Sue eventually owning A1 Storage of Lafayette, Colorado. This business was sold in 2007, so Larry could pursue full time his lifetime dream of researching, writing, and publishing books under International Historical Research Associates. He was also instrumental in starting Eagles Over Europe, a research group dedicated to European WWII history. His published books include Warpath Across the Pacific, Attack and Conquer, Revenge of the Red Raiders, Rampage of the Roaring' 20's, Ken's Men Against the Empire, Vol 1 and Vol 2 which are the histories which are the histories of the 345th Bomb Group, 8th Fighter Group, 22nd Bomb Group, 312th Bomb Group, and 43rd Bomb Group, respectively. All were considered the "gold standard" in aviation history. Larry and Sue adventured into the jungles of New Guinea looking for downed WWII aircraft in 2005 as well as other travels while doing research on his books. Memorial donations can be made to Doctors Without Borders. A private home celebration of life will be held September 1, 2021.