UPDATE: Seamans admirers remember the man

By Courtney L. Anderson
Herald Staff Writer

HERMITAGE November 02, 2009 02:49 pm

— Perhaps no one would’ve enjoyed the night of good food, fellowship and laughter more than man of the hour Ken Seamans himself.
The community lost a committed public servant and all-around great man when former Mercer County commissioner and Wilmington Township supervisor Seamans passed away in March. But it was evident to all Wednesday that his boisterous spirit and dedication to helping others lives on.
The inaugural “Bibs and Blue Jeans Banquet” got fundraising for the Ken Seamans Memorial Scholarship Fund “off to a rousing start,” scholarship committee member Barb Brown said.
In fact, so many people were eager to honor Seamans that staff at Normandy Banquet Center in Hermitage were busy setting up extra tables as the evening’s festivities kicked off.
The event was a tribute to a “very special man,” said Pastor Rob Cypher of Victory Christian Center, Wilmington Township.
Proceeds from the fundraiser, which included a live auction by New Wilmington’s own Duke Whiting, will go to the scholarship fund. Annually two Mercer County graduates who intend to pursue a career in agriculture or animal science will be given awards.
Seamans was a “leader, farmer, neighbor and friend,” Pastor Cypher said. Seamans and his wife Kay raised beef cattle at Maple Drive Farm in the township, fostered children and worked with a number of agriculture and civic groups.
“Everyone knew Ken Seamans, and I do mean everyone,” said township secretary Wendy Campbell in a letter read Wednesday by committee member and Mercer County Controller Tom Amundsen.
Seamans lived an interesting life and Mrs. Campbell’s listed just some of Seamans’ experiences.
He met Martin Luther King Jr. while working as a police officer in Washington, D.C., and served as a military police officer in Okinawa, Japan. He was struck by lightning and lost his arm in a corn picker accident.
Knowledgeable in so many areas, Seamans was often called on for advice, Mrs. Campbell wrote. And he gladly took on causes and projects in the community.
“No job was too big or too small for a natural born leader,” she wrote.
Seamans’ colleagues shared tales about the man and “Ken-isms” throughout the night.
“There’s not a day goes by I don’t think of Ken, what he did for the county, what he did for all of us,” said Amundsen, who adopted two cats the Seamanses rescued and named them “Kenny” and “Kay.”
Always good for a joke, “He was quite a storyteller,” Mercer County Commissioner Brian Beader said of Seamans.
Seamans shared stories about Amundsen’s run-ins on his farm with other folks in the courthouse. Amundsen said everyone knew about the time he accidentally picked field corn instead of sweet corn because Seamans told them. Another time Seamans “laughed and laughed” as Amundsen jumped a fence to get away from an angry cow trying to protect her calf, which Amundsen was trying to help Seamans free from a fence.
Mercer County Common Pleas Judge Thomas R. Dobson, who frequently had lunchtime “therapy” sessions with Seamans, said he’ll always remember the sound of his friend’s “genuine, steady” laughter.
Dobson spoke about how the farmer once dealt with a particularly stubborn longhorn bull — he “hit it between the eyes with a two-by-four,” Dobson said. The judge asked Seamans why.
“All he could say was ‘because it made me mad,’ ” Dobson shared, with a laugh.
He noted that Seamans always did what had to be done and when faced with a risky decision, Dobson said he hoped to have that kind of courage.
Beader had saved a couple phone messages Seamans left for him and played them for the audience. One was simply Seamans taunting Beader for his habit of not picking up calls.
“Answer your phone,” Seamans voice boomed through Beader’s cell phone.
Another message featured Seamans, irked by something in a letter to the editor in The Herald, offering a few choice words for the author with a “Merry Christmas” and a chuckle in the middle for Beader.
“On tough days I play that and it puts a smile on my face,” Beader said.
Dick Wilson, who was a township supervisor with Seamans, shared stories about plowing and paving roads with Seamans. Once, a man gave the road crew a tough time.
“Ken forgot he had a butcher knife in his hand” and had a hook on the other, startling the man who told his boss he was late because he had run into a pirate.
Wilson also told about a time when Seamans, known throughout the county for his white hair, burly stature and jolly nature, was out Christmas shopping and felt a tug on his pant leg.
A child pointed to Seamans’ missing hand and asked, “Did that happen on the sleigh?” Wilson said.
Fellow veteran Gary Solander, who is director of veterans affairs in Mercer County, said his office was moved many times during the courthouse renovation. And no matter where it was, Seamans always found a way to sneak up behind Solander and pinch his ear with the hook, sending his friend jumping across his desk.
“He thought that was absolutely hilarious,” Solander said.
But Seamans was a “bulldog” when it came to supporting things he believed in, particularly veteran’s issues, said Vincent Darcangelo, who just finished a stint as state commander of the Disabled Veterans Commission. Darcangelo presented Seamans’ widow with an award on behalf of all veterans in the state for his service.

To donate to the Ken Seamans Memorial Scholarship Fund, send a check to the Community Foundation of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, 33 Chestnut St., Sharon, PA 16146.

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