Seamans

Kenneth Allen Seamans, 69, of Pulaski Mercer Road, New Wilmington, Wilmington Township, Mercer County, died at 6:18 a.m. Sunday at UPMC Horizon, Farrell.

Born July 29, 1939, in Edinburg, Lawrence County, he was the son of John Cory Seamans and Mary Elizabeth Salzman.

He married Kay McFarland July 23, 1977.

He graduated in 1957 from Union High School, New Castle. He then graduated from the U.S. Army Military Police Academy, Fort Gordon, Ga., where he served as an all-service military police officer with the rank of specialist 4th class.

Seamans started his career as a police officer in the Metropolitan Police Department, Washington, D.C., retiring in 1971 after a seven-year law enforcement career.

Seamans completed numerous courses with the Washington, D.C., police department and the U.S. Department of Justice and held dual certificates in police and public administration from American University in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Seamans and his wife, Kay, owned and operated a 150-acre beef farm called Maple Drive Farm in Wilmington Township, Mercer County.

He served as a Wilmington Township supervisor for a total of 18 years and completed two appointments by Mercer County judges to serve as a Mercer County commissioner. Commissioner Seamans was first appointed county commissioner in 2001 and later in 2004.

The Wilmington Township building was renamed the Kenneth A. Seamans Municipal Building in honor of his service to the township.

He and his wife, Kay, who taught special education in the Grove City School District, were interested in the care and development of young people and served as foster parents to troubled youth for years. Ken said, "A lot of times people who get into trouble, if you look at their past, they never had much of a chance to begin with. There but for the grace of God go I. I could've been there. You get them, and you see that they're human beings, and you give them a chance. I never had one of the boys steal from me or run away. They never ran away. They improved in school. They improved in their character. You can see a tremendous improvement in all of them, once you give them a chance. No one has ever trusted them. So you put trust in them."

He was affiliated with the New Wilmington Presbyterian Church.

Ken Seamans was a member and past master in 1980 of the Lodge of the Craft Westminster, No. 433 F&AM and also a member of the Wilmington Lodge No. 804 F&AM. He was made a 33-degree mason and a member the Supreme Council of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction as a member of the Scottish Rite, Valley of New Castle in 1992 and a past thrice potent master of the New Castle Lodge of Perfection in 1981. He served several years as hospitaller for the New Castle Consistory. He was a member of the Syria Shrine, Pittsburgh.

Surviving are his wife, Kay McFarland Seamans of their residence in New Wilmington; his mother, Mary Elizabeth Seamans of Edinburg, Pa.; three brothers, John C. Seamans and his wife, Choi, of Union Township, Lawrence County, Dave Seamans and wife, Anita, of Zoar, Ohio, and Dan Seamans of Grove City; three sisters, Betsy Reynolds of Detroit, Mich., Joy and her husband, Jeff Berquist, of Sandusky, Ohio, and Nancy and her husband, Bruce Haverkamp, of Cincinnati, Ohio.

He was preceded in death by his father.

<B>SEAMANS</B> — Services for Kenneth Allen Seamans, who died Sunday, March 29, 2009, will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the New Wilmington Presbyterian Church, 229 S. Market St., New Wilmington. The Rev. Ralph Hawkins, the Rev. Dr. Joseph, Hopkins, and the Rev. Robert Cypher will officiate. Friends will be received following the service at the church.Memorial contributions may be made to the Shriner's Hospital, 1645 W. Eighth St., Erie, PA 16505 or to the Arc of Mercer County/MCAR, 842 N. Hermitage Road, Hermitage, PA 16148.Arrangements are by the <B>Smith Funeral Home</B>, New Wilmington.