Frank Fenning Seaman

Francis (Frank) Seaman was born June 4, 1910 in Columbus, Ohio.  His parents were Francis (Frank) Fenning Seaman and Adelaide Madeline Averback Seaman.  Frank Sr. was an engineer and artist carving religious saints and painting still life and famous sailing ships in oil.  The family was Catholic.  A girl was born to Frank Sr. and Adelaide April 18, 1915 in Columbus, Ohio, she died July 35, 1916.  Robert was born in Cleveland, Ohio July 22, 1912.  He married June Gorsuch and they had five girls and one boy.  John Ignatius was born November 12, 1919 in Cleveland, Ohio and became a Secular priest.  The Seaman boys all attended parochial schools.  Robert became an engineer working for Robins and Myers in Springfield, Ohio where Frank Sr. was one of the head engineers.  Frank Jr. ran away from home twice.  Frank Sr. found him working in a hay field for a long day and the pay being and old rusty, broken 22 pistol.  Frank Sr. took Frank Jr. back home and put him to work in the shop of Robbin and Myers.  Frank Jr. didn't graduate from high school.  After many minor jobs in the plant, Frank Sr. had his son work for him in the drafting department.  Frank Jr. learned a lot from his Dad but never became a registered engineer although he earned a modest living being a draftsman.

Frank Jr. married Frances Markley August 16, 1931.  They had two children, Francis (Sonny) Markley born February 13, 1932 in Springfield, Ohio, who became an accountant and Jeanine Ethelyn born April 1936.  Frank Jr. and Frances were divorced in 1937.  Frances died in Oregon in 1964.  Frank Jr. married Ethel Armen Trout who had three boys by a former marriage.  They divorced in November 1946.

While married to Ethel, Frank Jr. enlisted in Navy during WW II.  He was never sent overseas but stationed at Livermore, California where he was a draftsman and in the Seabees.  After the war ended, Frank requested to be discharged in California.  He went to work in San Jose at Food Machinery Corp. as a draftsman in the engineering Dept.  He met his third wife here, who was also a draftsman, being Ruth Sierra.

Frank and Ethel were in process of getting a divorce while he was still in the Navy.  When it was finalized, Ruth and Frank were married in San Leandro at a Presbyterian Church on November 23, 1946.  They lived in a one-room apartment with bath and very small kitchen until they purchased a nice three-bedroom home in San Jose, California.  Frank was very good working in the yard and we had the nicest landscaped yard in the neighborhood.  The first child, a girl, Cheryl Ann was born November 29, 1947 and the second child, a boy, Douglas Carl was born July 24, 1949. .

Frank worked for Westinghouse in Sunnyvale, California and when Doug was four months old, Frank Sr. offered Frank Jr. a. job as manufactures representative for Robbin and Myers.  The main company being in Ohio and Frank would work out of Atlanta, Georgia, covering six southern states.  He would work with hoists and cranes and monorails.  He accepted the job, as it was better paying than being a draftsman in California.  Ruth and children stayed in San Jose to sell the home and Frank went to work in Atlanta, Georgia and bought a nice home in Decatur, Georgia.  Ruth and children flew to Atlanta in January 1950.  The children were being raised Catholic and when they started parochial school the neighborhood in Decatur completely ignored them.  They were treated like black people, as at that time Catholics were not accepted.  Frank traveled all the time and was only home two or three nights a month.  It was a very unhappy time for Ruth and children.  We flew to California to visit the Sierras about two times during a seven-year period.  Frank announced one night that if he could earn Robbin and Myers all that money that he was going into business for himself.  After borrowing unknown amounts of money from my parents and his parents to be a free lance representative he lost these funds and took a job in Brunswick.  After selling the home in Decatur the family moved to a very small rental house with two bedrooms on St. Simons Island.  The house was small but the location near the Atlantic Ocean was very desirable.  Ruth and children spent all free time walking on the beach with "Schutzie", the dachshund dog.  There were less than 3,000 people living on St. Simons in 1957 and it was a very quiet and beautiful village and the ideal place to raise children.

After several years of Frank borrowing money from banks (of which Ruth paid off several loans) and finally moving into a nice three bedroom home, Frank moved to Atlanta working as a draftsman and finally moving to Springfield, Ohio to live in his deceased parents home.  He was not well as he had been an alcoholic for many years and his health was deteriorating.  Ruth and Frank were divorced in 1967, as Ruth couldn't take anymore of living with this sickness.  At that time it was considered a weakness.

Frank died in Springfield, Ohio on March 29, 1972 and interred next to his mother and father in Calvary Cemetery.  His children and daughter-in-law and Ruth attended the funeral, which was on the Saturday before Easter Sunday in 1972.  Frank's brother, Fr. John (the priest) presided over services in the funeral home.  Frank went back to his religion while in Springfield and received his final rites.

Frank was only 62 when he died.  Fr. John asked the doctor what his health problem was and the doctor said it would be easier to answer what was not wrong with his health.