Cousins Reunite

Marty Steele  & Rich Tinneny

Photo Courtesy of Robert Smith

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 2^nd 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.