In 1955, Dr. Abraham Sinkov and his wife Delia Taylor Sinkov purchased two lots in Greenbelt’s Lakeside neighborhood and built a house – 3 Lakeview Circle – where they lived for the following eight years. When asked, Abraham would simply say he was a mathematician, while Delia was at home raising their two children. Not known at the time, the Sinkovs were also leaders in intercepting and decoding Japanese messages all over the Southwest Pacific theater during World War II. Abraham, an associate cryptanalyst working in the Army Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) since 1930, headed the communications intelligence organization attached to the headquarters of General Douglas MacArthur in Australia.
For his service, Abraham was awarded the American Legion of Merit and the Oak Leaf Cluster. Delia, a junior cryptanalyst at SIS since 1938, assisted on the cryptanalytic solution to the German diplomatic system known as the Keyword or Floradora system. She is featured in Liza Mundy’s book, Code Girls, and is also credited with cryptanalytic successes in decoding Japanese army systems.
During their time in Greenbelt, Abraham and Delia were active members of the community. According to Greenbelt News Review archives, Abe was appointed to the Advisory Planning Board in September 1961 (see the October 19, 1961 issue of the News Review) and Dee was elected to Center School’s PTA executive board as secretary in May 1958 (see Greenbelt News Review, May 22, 1958), then as chairman in May 1960.
In 1962, the family moved to Arizona, where Abraham accepted an appointment as a professor of mathematics at Arizona State University. Delia Sinkov died in 1983 and Abraham Sinkov died in 1990.
Xavier Courouble is the current resident of 3 Lakeview Circle.
