Blanchard Seaver Obituary

LENOIR, NC - Blanchard Fudge (Bill) Seaver, Jr., 93, passed away early Sunday morning on October 22, 2023, at home in Lenoir, NC after a long life of service.

Bill was born in Johnson City, Tennessee on March 14, 1930, to Blanchard, Sr. and Edith Virginia Dickenson.

His wife of nearly 66 years, Madge "Shirrelene" (Turner) Seaver preceded him in death in 2019.

Those left to cherish his memory are three sons; Danny and wife, Elaine Seaver, Wendell Seaver, and Randell and wife, Kim Seaver; four grandchildren, Emily Teague and husband, Ron, Charlton Seaver and partner, Nikkita Gibson, Errol Seaver and wife, Lindsey Seaver, Jonathan and wife, Kristin Moore, and five great-grandchildren.

Bill Seaver spent his youth in the Tri-Cities area of East Tennessee in Kingsport and in Cracker Neck, VA on his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Eppie Wells' farm.

As a teenager he came to The Patterson School for Boys in the spring of 1946, where he fell in love with the Happy Valley area near Patterson, NC. There, he played his beloved team sports of football, basketball, and baseball. While in his junior year and playing varsity basketball, he started a Junior High team for the younger boys which ended up winning the Caldwell County championship.

As a senior he returned to Dobyns Bennett High School in Kingsport, Tennessee. Upon graduation in 1948, he enlisted in the Army. When the Korean War broke out in June,1950, he was in the 7th Infantry Division of the 8th Army sent to Korea. The Christmas in Korea insert in the 1950 Christmas issue of Life Magazine featured a photo of him on its cover. His unit reached the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea near the Manchurian border with China with temperatures recorded at -75? in the winter of 1950. They were confronted by 120,000 Chinese soldiers who had slipped into North Korea and had surrounded them. Frozen from the waist down and near hopeless, he was rescued and carried out by the Marines. He was one of the "Frozen Chosin" to survive as thousands died from the fighting and exposure.

After his recovery and finishing his service in Tokyo, Japan, he returned to Kingsport and joined the Air Force Reserve and began working for Pet Dairy. He met Shirrelene, the love of his life soon after his return and they were married in 1953.

He attended Whitney Business College studying accounting. He then went to work at Volunteer Natural Gas Company as credit manager in Kingsport which merged into the Tennessee-Virginia Energy Corporation until 1969.

He was very active in the Kingsport Optimist Club and received the "Optimist of the Year" for his work in starting the Annual Sullivan County Junior High School Basketball Tournament. Bill's love for coaching led him to coach teams in the Kingsport Recreation Leagues and Boys Club.

He was a long-time member and deacon at First Christian Church in Kingsport. There he started and served Boy Scout Troop 151 as Scoutmaster, Cub Scout Pack 151 after already starting an Explorer Post through the Air Force Reserve. He believed in getting his scouts hiking and camping in the great outdoors and helped develop many young men into Eagle Scouts.

In 1969, he was offered a job to get him back to The Patterson School as the Bursar and dorm parent in the junior-senior dorm while Shirrelene also came to be a dorm parent for the junior high dorm and later school nurse. He worked toward financing the growth of Patterson.

He also took over as head baseball coach mid-season in 1970 with the Bulldogs in last place. He built the confidence of the players and won out beating all the teams that had previously beaten Patterson the first half of the season, finishing one game out of first place in the CAA conference which included private schools in western North Carolina and upper South Carolina.

He also helped the Patterson Bulldogs' football team for a few years coaching defensive line and linebackers under head coaches Bill Woodbury, then Maxie Williams for a few years and eventually winning the CAA Conference football championship going undefeated in 1974.

While a resident of Happy Valley in Caldwell County, Bill joined the Lenoir Optimist Club and eventually started the Happy Valley Optimist Club in 1971 which has grown and still serves children in the Patterson and Happy Valley area.

After retiring from Patterson School, he went on to help new and established businesses needing sound management in Lenoir and Hickory. He managed Merritt Supply after it opened in Lenoir and then Independence Manor, Better Homes Furnishings, and the Elks Club in Hickory before returning to Kingsport to work managing Greene's Supply.

Then as age was slowing them down, Bill and Shirrelene returned to Lenoir in 2014 to live out their lives near their children and grandchildren. Bill Seaver loved The Patterson School and stayed involved serving on the school board several times throughout his life.

The family will receive friends from 12:00 pm until 1:00 pm on Saturday, November 4, 2023, in the chapel of Oak Hill Funeral Home.

A Funeral Service will be conducted at 1:00 pm.

Interment will follow at 2:00 pm in Oak Hill Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be sent to The Patterson School Foundation, Inc. at P.O. Box 500, Patterson, NC 28661.

A celebration of his life will be held at The Patterson School at a later date.

The care of Blanchard Fudge (Bill) Seaver, Jr., and his family has been entrusted to the staff of Oak Hill Funeral & Cremation Services.