Daniel Tickton Dies; Blind CPA Wrote Jewish News Features

Daniel L. Tickton, a most color-
ful Detroit personality, died Tues-
day night at the age of 85. His
late residence was at 17176 War-
rington.
Funeral services were held at
Kaufman Chapel Thursday.
He is survived by two sons,
Jason H., the musical director of
Temple Beth El, and Sidney G.
of Washington; 10 grandchildren,
one great-grandchild and a brother,
Nathan, of Woonsocket, R.I.

Mr. Tickton was well known in
many circles here, having figured
prominently in the organization of
minyanim in the early stages of
Detroit's Jewish settlement, of syn-
agogues and business projects.
A number of years ago he headed
the Tickton Insurance Agency.
He was a bookkeeper for prom-
inent firms before becoming a cer-
tifed public accountant, and in
spite of having turned totally blihd
43 years age he passed the CPA

tests.
valuable reminder about noted per-
In spite of his total blindness, sonalities and a synagogue experi-
Mr. Tickton conducted CPA activ- ence.
ities, entered into extensive cor-
Mr. Tickton who was born in
respondence, wrote special articles Russia, came ' to Detroit 50 years
— typing them himself — and at- ago. His CPA office was at 1018
tended many community functions. Michigan Bldg.
He wrote numerous articles for
He was a member of Cong. Adas
The Jewish News and only a day Shalom, .Association of CPAs,
before his death The Jewish News Loyal Order of Moose, and the
received another of his articles Waltham, Mass., Masons and
with interesting reminiscences. The Eagles.
article is presented here as a most

Reminiscences—About Personalities and a Minyan

Editor's Note: This feature article
reached The Jewish News a day be-
fore the death of the author, who had
written many features for The Jewish
News in the past. The concluding par-
agraph, presented as the deceased
wrote it, in a sense outlines a philos-
ophy of life entertained by the very
able and interesting man who became
a CPA in spite of blindness and al-
ways typed his own articles.
* * *

By DANIEL L. TICKTON
I remember the date clearly. It
was August 11, 1917. Motzi Shab-
bos. After Maariv services I stopped
at the home of Maurice Zackheim.
He and I walked to the home of
Ike Shetzer; we walked slowly,
leisurely, savoring the cool night
breeze of summer's twilight. Today
it would be truly wonderful to be
able to walk like that—at night—
in any neighborhood — at peace
with the world—unafraid. Windows
were open, doors unlocked. And
we could hear the occasional, chant-
ing of haMavdil, of the singing of
Eliyahu Hanovi, or recordings of
Y. Rosenblatt, or Glantz, or Kwar-
tin -- songs of faith and beauty. '
Like the singers of today, those
men also wore their hair long, but
it was the hair on their faces,
beards of religious conviction.
"Gut Voch," greeted Mr. Shetzer.
He introduced us to his son, Simon.
Mr. Shetzer told me to stop in his
store on Gratiot Avenue on the fol-
lowing Sunday morning so he could
inquire about my qualifications as
a bookkeeper. His wholesale dry
goods store was closed on the Sab-
bath and on all Jewish holidays;
Sunday was another working day.
I was delighted. The idea of a
position where each Sabbath and
every holiday would be a day of
rest — a shomer Shabbos And I
promised to be there bright and
early. Thus began my career as a
bookkeeper and subsequently as ani
accountant and a CPA, in which
endeavor I am still quite active.
It was a boom year. The first

world war was in progress and the
firm of Sarasohn and Shetzer was
doing a large business of wholesale
ladies', men's and children's - ap-
parel. That year sales ran close to
three quarters of a million dollars
with prices rising day by day.
There was a shortage of merchan-
dise.
Mr. Sarasohn was a financial
wizard. The firm's purchases were
made on terms of "2/10"—two per
cent off if bills were paid within
10 days from the date of shipment.
Sales were made to storekeepers
on the basis of two per cent off if
the bills were paid within 30 days,
but some of the merchants were
delinquent 60 or 90 days.
Ike Shetzer, whom Lou Berry
named "Mr. Shaarey Zedek," was
the buyer. He made frequent trips
to New York but mostly to Carson,
Pririe, Scott in Chicago. The office
force consisted of Dave Bernstein
as credit manager and bookkeeper,
who was always in touch with
Adolphus Fixel of Krolik Co. (the
dean of credit ratings at that
time). I was the asistant bookkeep-
er and Ellen Mader was the stenog-
rapher. After I had worked two
weeks, Mr. Sarasohn raised my
salary and promoted me to book-
keeper.
The sales force consisted of Rob-
ert Lowenberg (later manager of
Clover Hill Cemetery), Joe Rabino-
witz (later with Robins and Brode),
Max Broder (later with Broder
Brothers), Benny Penslar, Josh
Sarasohn, and Sol Lewis. The out
of town' salesmen were Julius
Blumenthal and Meyer Cohen. In
the receiving and shipping depart-
ment were Avrom Chaim Sara-
sohn, Jacob Krohn (father of Dr.
Krohn), Sam Mendel, and Max
Olshansky. The delivery men were
Sam Rosenberg and Max Shiovitz
The consulting attorney was Will
Friedman (later Judge Friedman

- -1.47ArrOfi

How to say Happy New Year
in Hebrew:

New Year Bartonette Miniature Chocolates, 13 oz. $2.39.
Come see all the other Barton's New Year chocolates
and pastries.

pARTONT

NEW YORK • LUGANO. UNTSC ALAND

ALSO IMPORTED CRYSTAL & OTHER FINE GIFTS

18309 WYOMING

1 Block North of Curtis

24790 COOLIDGE

At 10 Mile, Next Door to Dexter Davison Market

OPEN EVENINGS and SUNDAYS

of Friedman, Meyers, and Keyes, in
the. Dime Building).
In 1917 the income tax rates
were ranged from one to six per
cent. The single personal exemp-
tion was $3,000, compared with
$600 today. A single man with a
$5,000 a year income paid $20 in
tax. Today he pays $944. It was
felt at the time that rates could
never reach 10 per cent. They did!

There was a shortage of houses
that year and I had to move my
family to East Jefferson Avenue at
Coplin. This was in September,
and the program of a holiday pray-
er house was bothering me. Rosh
Hashana was on Monday, Sept. 17,
1917, and there was only a short
time in which to get up a minyan.
Morris Kaner, who resided on
Continental Ave., offered one of
his rooms as a prayer house. After
searching the neighborhood we
managed to get 10 person consist-
ing of Jacob Kaner, Morris Kaner,
Julius Englander, Dave Kornfield,
Julius Jacobson, Joseph Rosenberg,
Joe Blau, Charles Gell, Mr. Hor-
witz (grandfather of Ruth Heck-
ler) and myself. Sam Sarasohn's
father loaned us a Sefer Tora.

The second year we had larger
headquarters over the stores of
Charles Gell on East Jefferson near
St. Jean. We registered under the
name of Congregation Shaarey
Tefilla and for a number of years
had a gathering of between 30 and
40 persons.

In 1923 the congregation pur-
chased a one family house on East-
lawn Avenue. We remodeled it into
a synagogue and conducted serv-
ices each Sabbath and on all holi-
days. Louis Lipson donated an-
other tora.

Gratiot Avenue from Brush to
Russell was crowded with whole-
sale clothing, dry goods, shoes,
furniture, drapery, yard goods and
drug stores. Among them: Koblin
Bros. Auction House, Robinson and
Cohen, Mendel Berman, Jacob
Burrows, Abe Suffrin, Moe Erlich,
Schitovsky and Sons, Meyer Starr,
Barney Atkins, Lieberman's Furni-
ture, Max Rosinsky; and many
retail stores. The Gratiot Avenue
merchants were self respecting
gentlemen — some of them were
quite prosperous — many of their
children and grandchildren have
become well known figures in poli-
tics, medicine, etc.

At times the inner office of Sara-
sohn and Shetzer resembled a
political convention — especially
when Mr. Shetzer got together with
Joe Wetsman, Councilman Simons
or with Abe Rubiner (father of
Sam, Julius, Judge Charles, and
Ray). Most of them met for lunch
at Powell's Delicatessen, especially
on Fridays when Mrs. Powell served
a homemade specialty of gefilte
fish and halls.

There has been a lot of history
made in the last 50 years. Loca-
tions have changed. In my mind I
can clearly picture all of the people
and the places mentioned as they
were until 1923.

There are not many of the people
left. Some may be trying to outlive
me but I'm not sure they'll succeed.
I wish them good luck and a long
life. Mere length of life is mean-
ingless. A full life is better than a
long one. It is the depth and crea-
tivity of a life that should be meas-
ured and not as mere temporal
span.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, September 29, 1967-13

Israeli Police Find
Stolen Golden Tiara

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli
police here have recovered the
golden tiara stolen several weeks
ago from the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre in Old Jerusalem.
In a ceremony today, Jerusalem
Police Commissioner D. Bareli re-
turned the ornament to _Father
Jean Joseph Ilio of the Franciscan
Order which is the custodian of the
church. Father Ilio immediately
replaced the tiara on the head of
the statue of the Virgin Mary,
from which it had been taken in
the theft.
A silversmith in Ramat Gan re-
ceived a reward of $170 from the
police for providing the informa-
tion whhci led to the recovery of
the tiara.

N.Y. Arabs Protest
Expulsion of Sheikh

NEW YORK (JTA) — A group
of Arabs demonstrated here Tues-
day' against the Israeli expulsion
of Sheikh Abdul Hamid Es-Sayeh
to Jordan, exciled for leading re-
sistance activities.
The demonstration took place
not far from the Israeli Consulate
in Manhattan.
Police kept the demonstrators
away from the consulate.
The marchers carried placards
denouncing Israel.

DANIEL L. TICKTON

Maybe
you'll
put on a
brogue
for
yontif?

Listen. Phillips can put you in a good-looking
brogue for as little as $19.95 (or as high as $55
for the Florsheim Royal Imperials). You'll wish
that every day were a holiday so you could
wear them. Not to mention that you'll wish
everyone could see the label in the shoe. What
label? The one that says Florsheim. And that
says a lot. But besides all that, the price in-
cludes two shoes, a left and a right. So how can
you go wrong? Come to Phillips and see our
brogues. And then, when you get all dressed up
for the holidays, you'll have just the right
accent.

PHILLI

NORTHLAND CENTER

2 STORES