Posted: Friday, July 1, 2009 12:00 am
As of today, EDDIE SEEBORG, pictured, bottom, 95, is in Astoria for the Seeborg family reunion. A little bird (actually his son, LARRY SEEBORG) called to tell the Ear about it. Eddie, who attended the Taylor School, was in the first class of seventh graders at Capt. Robert Gray Elementary School and graduated from Astoria High School in 1931, has seen a lot of Astoria history first-hand. He told his story to Larry who, with LIISA PENNER's help, published the story in CUMTUX, "Edward F. Seeborg: A Uniontown Boy from Astoria" in 2007.
Born in Astoria, Eddie was one of 14 children of Finnish immigrants Victor and Fanny Seeborg, who owned a three-story house at 249 Columbia Ave., which is now W. Exchange Street. The house is still in the family, owned by Vic and Fanny Seeborg's granddaughter, VICKI GASSER, and her husband, DAVE.
The Cumtux story mentions Eddie's family being on the fringe of the great flu epidemic of 1918-1919, when a man who rented a room later died of the flu. Eddie recalled that the ambulance couldn't make it up the steep road, so the roomer had to be carried out, and then the house had to be fumigated by burning sulfur in every room.
Eddie also witnessed the Astoria fire of 1922, and scavenged the ashes for "anything useful at home or for play." He also recalls the reconstruction after the fire, filling in the areas of the city that had been built on pilings, and the dedication of the Astoria Column on July 22, 1926.
He married fellow AHS student LAURA TERHO in 1934. She died in February, two months before their 75th anniversary.
After working for many years in the Foreign Agricultural Service division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Eddie retired in 1974. He currently lives in Sandy, Utah.
When Eddie was 92, Larry said, "He passed a full driver's test just a month or so before his 93rd birthday on Oct. 22, 2006. He was so happy about passing the test that he bought the car (a Toyota Camry hybrid) as a birthday present to himself," pictured above, top
Larry says Eddie would greatly enjoy having old friends contact him while he's here. He is staying at Astoria's Holiday Inn Express through Monday. The number is (503) 325-6222.
Elleda Wilson
Reprinted with permission of The Daily Astorian of Astoria, Oregon.
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