Maureen Kane and Tom Hickey, who will both turn 99 this year, grew up a block apart from each other in Richmond Hill, Queens.

They were a year apart at Holy Child Jesus Elementary School, and their families were Holy Child parishioners.

Maureen remembers playing marbles, jumping rope and playing stickball in the neighborhood. “I wouldn’t change my growing up years or town for anywhere else,” she told the Register.

At 8 years old, Tom stopped by Maureen’s house after she’d had an appendectomy. He brought a small gift, an address book. They still joke that it was something he found in his mother’s drawer, with addresses already in it.

As teenagers, they often attended the same school events and parties.

For both Maureen and Tom, who celebrated a special anniversary Mass with their family last month at St. Catherine of Siena parish, in Franklin Square, New York, faith and family were central to their lives growing up, and those anchors continued into their adult lives. Both speak of their parents with gratitude and admiration.

Tom, one of nine children, remembers doing some basic chores before going to play with friends and walking with a couple of friends to the next neighborhood to get an ice cream with their 15-cent allowance. “What a treat that was because we didn’t often have ice cream,” he recalled. His mother walked everywhere, too. “She’d walk to Jamaica Avenue to shop, and she’d walk to our church, Holy Child Jesus, for Mass. She always had a good dinner on the table at 6:00 and then again at 7:00 when our dad got home from work. Aunt Mary Harding came by once a week to help with the sewing and darning of socks. My oldest sister, Margaret, became a Josephine nun around the time my brother Joe was born (1929) at home. My sisters Muriel and Dottie and my brother Fred all got married. My brother Jay and sister Eleanor soon followed.”

As Tom got older, he worked for a local pharmacy, delivering orders by bike. On weekends, there were often football games or a day at Rockaway Beach in the summer.

Maureen, the eldest of three daughters, recalled her mother as a “gentle, peaceful and loving woman. She and my dad, Arthur Patrick Kane, made a great couple and had a loving marriage for 66 years.”

She continued, “She was always there when we came home from school, at noon time, to give us lunch. She was a talented seamstress; she made many of our clothes, and everything was always very professional looking. She was a busy housekeeper. On Mondays she would do laundry, hang it outside to dry, and in the evening she would iron it all. While she ironed, my sisters and I would sit in the kitchen with her and listen to a story on the radio. Mom was a great cook and baker. We always had a homemade desert. Our Sunday dinner was always a great family gathering. That was always enjoyable.

“When we got older, Mom was busy with community organizations and PTA. She died in 1989 at 90 years old and is missed by family and friends.”

Love Story

Right after high-school graduation in 1943, Tom joined the Navy. He served in the Pacific on the Vincennes for three years, going through the Panama Canal to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

“When he finished boot camp in Boston, he was home on leave,” Maureen remembered. “We dated the night of April 12, 1944, at The Boulevard tavern in Queens, and it was the beginning of a romance. We corresponded by V-mail (‘Victory’ mail) all during the war, until he was discharged on Jan. 10, 1946.” He was not quite 21.

That fall, Maureen entered a three-year nursing program. “Any plans to wed had to be put off because the school didn’t allow married students,” she explained.

After graduation, wedding plans were set for Feb. 18, 1950, at their home parish of Holy Child.

Following a honeymoon trip to Florida by train, the newlyweds settled into married life, as Maureen worked as a registered nurse, and Tom started a 39-year career with AT&T and New York Telephone.

The Hickeys bought their first home in 1951 in Franklin Square, on Long Island, for $10,000. It was there that the seven Hickey children — Kathy, Tommy, Susan, Kevin, Margaret, Daniel and Maureen — were raised and they were involved at St. Catherine’s parish. Maureen kept busy organizing kid’s birthday parties, school activities, family trips and church events, and she liked to play cards with a group of women friends. “We’ve outlived all our friends,” Maureen said, recalling long-term friendships fondly.

Tom also recalled childhood friends, Navy friends and golf buddies — and then reflected on life with his sweetheart.

“I’ve had a lot of friends, but none are my ‘closest’ friend. That statement is reserved for my wife of 75 years, Maureen. She is truly my closest friend.”

The family enjoyed many fond memories, from going to the Thanksgiving Day parade in Manhattan, to Easter egg hunts at home, bowling with dad and the parish bowling group, visiting the World’s Fair in 1964, vacations at a working farm in the Catskills and Woodloch Pines in the Poconos, and many Mets games, plus countless birthdays and Christmases.

Among memorable European trips throughout the years was the time they stayed in Paris with Tom’s niece and her family. They went to a memorial service for Veterans Day. “I was treated like a dignitary when they saw my World War II U.S.A. Navy hat. We were invited to join the parade, to walk to church for Mass and a short ceremony,” recalled Tom.

Other memorable occasions include a Mass celebrated by Pope St. Paul VI at Yankee Stadium in 1964 and a Mass offered by Pope St. John Paul II at Aqueduct Race Track in 1995.

Devoted parishioners, Tom and Maureen both served in various ministries over the years in their parish of 70-plus years. Besides attending Mass as a family, Maureen was active in Christian Mothers for more than 30 years, arranging their annual retreat; served in the ministry of consolation for 10 years; and was an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion at Masses as well as for the homebound and those in the hospital.

Tom was active in the Holy Name Society, including as president; was a lector; began the parish’s Nocturnal Adoration Society in 1951, and was involved for over 25 years, including serving as secretary; and also gave his time as an extraordinary minister.

Matrimonial Witness

The 75th anniversary Mass, arranged by their children last month, was celebrated by Msgr. Rick Figliozzi, with all of their children as well as most of their 17 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren in the pews. Msgr. Figliozzi began his homily by quoting Pope St. Paul VI: “He once said that people prefer witnesses to teachers and to the extent that they respect a teacher it would be because they are a good witness.”

He continued, “The type of witness Tom and Maureen have given through their 75 years of marriage. The Church teaches that the marriage of husband and wife is an image of the marriage of Christ and his Church and is also meant to be a reflection of the very love of God, which is always faithful, forgiving and fruitful. In their family life and in their involvement in the life of St. Catherine of Siena parish, Tom and Maureen have been both witness and teacher of what Jesus and his Church expect the marriage of husband and wife in the holy sacrament to be.” 

Faith-Filled Advice

The Hickeys were each asked what advice they would give to their grandchildren.

“Stay close to God and family. Always be true to yourself, honest, kind and loving,” Maureen said, adding: “Every day is a gift; live it to the fullest.”

She also advised following the “Golden Rule.”

As for Tom’s advice: “Stay close to your parents and each other. A good attitude is that blood is thicker than water, so stay close in your relationship. Pray for one another; help each other.”

“I was always grateful my mom and dad felt it was important to give us a Catholic education,” reminisced Maureen. “Between my parents at home and the nuns at school, we realized how important faith in God is. He has seen me through 98 years of life and 75 years of a faith-filled marriage. I’m not sure who I would turn to through the rocky years of life if it were not for the Almighty. He has truly blessed us with a wonderful family, good health, and many years of a wonderful marriage. It is certainly a marriage blessed by God.”