Letter from Roberta Kell Sinnock, 15 Dec 1995

NOTE:  John Ray Sinnock has achieved perhaps the greatest notoriety of any Sinnock ss Chief Engraver of the Philadelphia Mint. John always considered himself an artist and while at the mint designed, among others, the: Roosevelt Dime, Franklin Half Dollar, Purple Heart Medal for all battle-wounded soldiers, metallic portraits of several presidents and other famous people. John has been associated with several controversies including a false but persistent rumor in the "50's and "60's that his initials "JS" which appear at the base of Roosevelt's neck on the dime (check your pocket) actually stood for "Joseph Stalin" revealing a communist conspiracy deep within the government. John never married his life-long partner, Jean Peart because, according to his niece Roberta Kell Sinnock, his first wife Margaret would not give him a divorce. John and Jean were so accustomed to their arrangement that they continued it after Margaret died.

Half brother of William Pike, Robert Letton, Charles Burton, Burton Summers, James Marion ; son of Charles Wesley and Matha E. "Mattie" Ray who died giving him life; grandson of immigrant James William Sinnock

Some of John's work; note his initials "JS" on the dime just left of the date below Roosevelt's neck. It's a pretty good bet that most everybody in the US has a "Sinnock" intial in their pocket or purse. That is what I like to call "quiet fame".