Harvey E. Sick

Harvey Eugene Sick, originally of Lovelton but more recently of Lancaster and Lititz, passed away on Saturday, August 30, 2025, at the age of 90 from complications from sepsis. He was the son of Darwin Ralph Sick and Eunice Jayne Sick of Lovelton. Harvey grew up on a farm on a sidehill in the very southeast corner of Bradford County. His father and uncle bought neighboring farms in that corner, and their little dirt road would later be named Sick Rd. by the township. He attended Grant Hill School under the direction of Miss Oda Behr and then graduated from Wyalusing Valley High in 1952. At Wyalusing, he played varsity basketball and baseball, and he remained a sportsman throughout his life. After high school, Harvey enlisted in the army just as the Korean War was ending. After discharge from the army, he used his GI benefits to attend Millersville University. Although he did not earn a degree there, he met the love of his life, Dianne Grossman, in Lancaster. The couple had been married for 59 years when Dianne passed in 2024. They had one son, David, presently of Memphis, TN. In December of 1968, on a Sunday morning, while the family was eating breakfast, a blood clot lodged in Harvey’s spine for no apparent reason. It left him paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. He worked hard in physical therapy at the Johnstown Veterans Hospital and regained the ability to walk with crutches and became an expert driver of his wheelchair. Nonetheless, there being almost no accommodations for the disabled in 1969, Harvey had to resign from his job and fell into a deep and angry depression. But our world got better, with handicapped parking spaces and license plates, ramps, and accessible bathrooms, and Harvey’s life and spirits got better, too. In the late 1970s, he joined the Multiple Sclerosis Patients Club and met more members of the disabled community. In the 1980s, he returned to church at Redeemer Lutheran of Lancaster. In the 1990s, he even returned to part-time employment for a few years. He traveled to visit family in Florida, New York, Minnesota, and Tennessee. He became concerned with the Eastern Bluebird, which had been common in his youth on the farm. He studied the issue thoroughly and joined the Bluebird Society of Pennsylvania; he made, donated, and put up nest boxes; he and his wife became monitors for nest boxes at Middle Creek Wildlife Area. He was proud and happy when he saw bluebirds flying around the little piece of the family farm he came to own. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister, Eloise (Mrs. Kenneth Squier), brother, Elwood, his wife, a niece, and numerous dear cousins. He is survived by his son, a niece, a nephew, several dear cousins, and hundreds of bluebirds. A Graveside Service at Forkston Cemetery is planned for a later date. Memorials in lieu of flowers may be sent to the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, www.themiamiproject.org/donate/ or the Bluebird Society of PA, P.O. Box 12, Exton, PA 19341.