Sinclair

Ivan Earl Sinclair, age 84, passed away on Sept. 16, 2021, in Warrenton, Virginia. Ivan grew up on a farm in the Bethel Community and graduated as Salutatorian from Dimmitt High School in the Class of 1955. He left Dimmitt after graduation for Hardin-Simmons University, where he was editor of the school newspaper, followed by military service and graduate degree at Columbia School of Journalism in NYC.

Ivan’s forte was journalism. He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1963 where he began an illustrious career working for Les Carpenter News Bureau and the U.S. Government. Ivan began his government work on Capitol Hill in Lyndon B. Johnson’s office during his years as Senate Majority Leader and Vice-President. When President Kennedy was assassinated, Ivan went with Johnson to the White House where he was assistant to the president in charge of advancing all of the president’s travels, both domestic and international. In 1967, Ivan left the White House for the State Department where he worked with the Chief of Protocol. His final years of government service ended in the Office of U.S. Representative Jack Hightower from Texas 13th Congressional District.

Ivan will be remembered as a man who achieved lofty goals, had strong work ethics, never met a stranger, and early librarians will recall that throughout his school years in Dimmitt, he read every book in the library, now Rhoads Memorial Library. He was a lifelong Baptist and later in life earned a degree in Biblical Studies and also taught the GED to many young people desiring to earn their high school diploma.

Ivan is preceded in death by a son, Carter; his parents, Bryan and Katie Sinclair; brothers, Billy Brooks and Albert; sister, Dorothy Shannon; and wife, Shari Sinclair. He is survived by daughters, Kim Sinclair, Milwaukee, Oregon, and Erika Sinclair, Raleigh, North Carolina; granddaughters, Rowan and Finley; and several nephews and nieces.