It had been more than 40 years
since Marty Steele, the son of Kitty McColgan and
Rich Tinneny the son of John Tinneny were last together in the Manayunk section
of Philadelphia. Marty’s family moved to Arkansas
when he was about 3 years old and he was raised
there until he entered the United States Marine
Corps. Marty served a distinguished career ranging
from service as an enlisted combat marine in Vietnam
to Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations of the
Marine Corps. He retired as a Lieutenant General (3
stars) in 1999. Rich spent nearly 29 years with the Air Force.
Without knowing it in advance, both were attending
a
major Department of
Defense meeting in Orlando in their unrelated
consultant roles when they met in late July.
They are 2nd cousins and great grandsons of
Yankee Pat Tinneny of
Goladuff, Newtownbutler, Co. Fermanagh, Ireland.
They made a commitment to keep in touch.
And –
no we didn’t pre coordinate our ties and suits.

