Helen Seavy, of Morro Bay, will celebrating her 100th birthday next month. Photo by Judy Salamacha
In less than a month Morro Bay’s Helen Seavy will celebrate her 100th birthday with her family. The official date is September 9. Her three children will be among the celebrants to meet-up with relatives, friends and neighbors. I’ll leave invitations to the Seavy clan!
Helen was born in Harbor Beach, MI. She explained, “It is a small town in the thumb of Michigan on the coast of Lake Huron.” My husband is from Michigan, but I was confused by Helen’s reference to the state’s “thumb.” She pointed on the map how the shape of lower Michigan appeared somewhat like a thumb.
Helen was one of “…four children growing up among 2,500 residents 125 miles from Detroit and 60 miles south of Canada.” She lived at home until age 21. “It was during WWII when most of the boys went into the service and girlfriends went to Detroit to fill the men’s factory jobs. Dad said he’d pay me to stay home.”
When she was a child, she had spent time in the University of Michigan’s hospital with osteomyelitis, and infection and inflammation of bone tissue and marrow, in her right femur. The drugs of the day were not helping but then she suddenly recovered after being given a different medication. Years later she would meet up with a doctor in California during a medical issue her mother-in-law was experiencing. In casual conversation with him, they discovered he interned at the Michigan hospital in 1944 when Helen was being treated. He remembered witnessing that she was the first patient at the hospital to receive penicillin. The hospital had to get permission from President Roosevelt to treat her since the medication was still in trials.
Helen amazed me with her memory for dates, details and specific happenings during a century of living. She continues to live by herself with a few helpers to do gardening and chores she prefers not to do. Her home is immaculate. She continues to enjoy life with her friends although some activities have been curtailed. She keeps tabs on her 12 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, proudly showing me their pictures on her refrigerator’s front and side panels.
Helen eventually followed her sister, who was six years her senior, to Redlands, CA. Near giving birth to her third child, Helen’s sister needed help with her other two children of 11-months and five-years old. Her husband had been present for the birth of the 11-month-old but then soon left for the WWII European front.
It was during this stay with her sister that Helen would meet Richard Seavy. After a 9-week courtship they married. His family had come from New Hampshire in 1877 for employment with Standard Oil. Richard spent a career working as a sheriff-investigator and would ultimately retire after serving the San Bernadino County’s DA’s office as an investigator.
Helen says she is still a big LA Dodger fan. She recalled when her kids were growing up, they had a small box television in the living room. “I wouldn’t like some of the shows Richard and the kids watched, so I would go turn the radio on in the kitchen and got to know many of the players. I loved hearing Vince Scully’s voice.” Listening to baseball always reminded her of her father when he would listen to the Detroit Tigers on the radio.
Richard and Helen birthed three girls and a son. “Our Susan passed away early in 1981,” Helen said. Fortunately, her daughter, Terry Paske, lives in Morro Bay. After 30 years she retired as a San Luis Obispo RN from Sierra Vista. Another daughter, Barbara Murphy, lives in Marysville, WA and checks in on Helen daily. Her son Richard lives in Lancaster, PA since he chose to leave California to help his wife’s father with the family business.
And although family has always been a top priority in Helen’s life and she remembers where all the grandkids are and their grades in school, she has had her own life experiences to keep her busy.
Once her children were in kindergarten, she went to work parttime at “JC Penney when it was only open six days a week, Monday and Friday evenings and closed Sundays.” She worked for the California State Employee Credit Union and ultimately San Bernadino’s branch of the U.S. Social Security Administration when she retired in 1989.
She and her husband would regularly visit the San Luis Obispo area while their son Richard attended Cal Poly. Daughter Terry had married Bill Paske and moved to Morro Bay “to get out of Southern California.” Terry and her husband were both in health care careers.
Helen and Richard Sr. moved here permanently in March 1996 although he would pass too soon in September,1998 after a lingering illness.
“But it was still the best thing we ever did,” she said. “People were wonderful. The air quality allowed me to breathe without getting a tight chest for the first time in years and I was living close to at least one of my children.”
She immediately joined the Newcomers Club of Morro Bay. “I believe keeping busy is the secret to staying healthy for so long.” There is a long list of activities many of which she still enjoys on a limited basis.
With Newcomers, Helen enjoys dinners or lunch out with members. She participates in the grandmothers’ group and loves finding treasures while exploring antique and secondhand stores. “I’ve probably visited 200 wineries all over SLO.”
She explained her passion was playing bridge. “Until last December when my current bridge partner, Charlie Unger, started having some health issues, we played Duplicate Bridge sometimes three days a week. It keeps my brain alive,” she said with her beautiful smile. “We eventually settled into playing at Morro Bay’s Episcopal Church, but we often played in SLO and sometimes in Arroyo Grande. Charlie is younger than me … in his 90s.”
She volunteered for 10 years at St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church in Los Osos “doing whatever was needed in the office.” She also shelved books at Morro Bay’s library. Although she still attends cultural arts events, she said, “I miss ushering at the PAC (Cal Poly Performing Arts Center). I love Theater Arts productions and SLO has some great ones.”
I asked how she felt about Morro Bay as she has seen it grow. She said, “Although I’m pleased the tourists have discovered what we have been able to enjoy, I believe parking has become a big problem on the Embarcadero.”
A very happy, happy birthday, Helen Seavy, from the entire Estero Bay News crew!
