Stephen S. Sink was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, son of Kenneth Clare Sink and Rebecca Emerson Sink. He attended Keith School through 9th grade, a teacher training school affiliated with the Indiana State Teachers College. He earned his Eagle Scout rank during this period as well. He prepared for Yale at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, graduating in 1957.

Steve entered Yale with the class of 1961 in September 1957 and attended through January 1960. He returned in the Fall of 1960, joined our class, and graduated in June 1962 with a major in psychology. A resident of Calhoun College, he was on the Calhoun football and touch football teams. He was a member of the Freshman Swimming Team and received the Heaton Award in 1958 as the Freshman who demonstrated the most all-around improvement in diving and sportsmanship. He continued with the Varsity in 1961 and 1962. He was also a member of St. Elmo's.

After graduation, he served two years active duty in the United States Marine Corps as a corporal at Quantico, Virginia.

He initially worked at the Coca Cola bottling plant in Indiana, Pennsylvania which was owned and operated by his father. Subsequently, it was merged into Consolidated Coca-Cola Bottling of Ebensburgh where he continued employment until about 1970.

For the last 37 years he owned and ran the Quick-Pic Store in Indiana, PA. His was an intensive, demanding personal commitment to old-fashioned neighborhood service, 7 days per week, offering food, grocery items and a laundromat. Classmate Steve Rose, who also resides in the small Pennsylvania town near Pittsburgh, remembers him sitting behind the counter in his store "almost like a kind of pulpit from which he ministered to the local community out there along what's called East Pike" in Indiana.

Rose described Steve as a quiet, private guy who laughed easily but preferred some solitude as well as social activities. He built his home, a large Mediterranean-type villa on a hill on the outskirts of town. He was very proud of his home to which he devoted much of the little spare time he had. He and Rose had dinners together over the past 10 years which, Rose said, they both "enjoyed immensely." In fact, Rose arranged for Steve to join him and Bob Oliver for dinner several years ago when the latter was in the area on business.

Steve remained single. He is survived by his brother Kenneth C. Sink and his wife Hannah of Okemos, Michigan and their children, nieces Rebekah and Elizabeth and nephew Jonathan. He was predeceased by his parents. However, in Steve Rose's words, he also "left a community of friends and customers in Indiana who miss his neighborliness and service."

A Memorial Service will be held in May.

Kenneth Sink, who is Director, Plant Transformation Center at Michigan State University's Department of Horticulture, and Steve Rose provided information for this obituary.

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