Wesley ‘Dutch’ R. Seaburg

Wesley R. Seaburg

GUILDERLAND — Wesley “Dutch” R. Seaburg was a happy-go-lucky guy, says his wife of 33 years. A county highway worker, he had a passion for sports and for his family.

“He was full of life,” said his wife, Lynn Seaburg. “Nothing really bothered him; he’d shrug it off.”

Mr. Seaburg — known to his friends and family as “Dutch” — died peacefully at his Edgewood Street home surrounded by his loving family on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017. He was 66.

He was born in Albany, son of the late Wendell and Arla Voorman Seaburg, and raised in Feura Bush on Monkey Lane. His father worked on trains, and once suffered third-degree burns when a transformer blew, Mrs. Seaburg said. His mother worked for a chicken farm and tended bar at a Hilltown tavern.

Dutch Seaburg was a 1969 graduate of Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk schools. Right out of high school, he started working for the Albany County Department of Public Works. He did a variety of jobs for the department — plowing roads, working in the parts room, serving as a timekeeper — retiring after 30 years.

The center of his life, though, was his family. He met the woman who would become his wife at Weaver Lanes in Altamont one Wednesday night. The way Mrs. Seaburg tells the story, she wasn’t much of a bowler. “He told me, if I bent over more, I’d get more pins down,” she recalled, and she worried at first he was just angling for a better view of her.

Her worries were short-lived. “That Thursday, he asked me out. A week later, in the back of Stewart’s parking lot, he said, ‘I think we should get married.’ I said, ‘Yeah, why not.’ I was shy. The next week, on Wednesday, he gave me my engagement ring….On Thursday, I bought my wedding dress for $35 in the bargain room of Montgomery Ward.”

The couple married on Aug. 6, 1983 and their union ended only with his death.

Mr. Seaburg adored their daughter, Hillary. She started bowling at the age of 3, coached by her father. He also coached bowling at Town ’N’ Country Lanes; softball for the local American Legion; and his daughter’s baseball, softball, and bowling leagues.

“Both of them love baseball,” Mrs. Seaburg said of her husband and daughter. “They’d go to Yankee Stadium for Father-Daughter Day and for the Old Timer’s Game.” In addition to being a New York Yankees’ fan, Mr. Seaburg also rooted for the Dallas Cowboys.

“He loved coaching because he loved kids,” said Mrs. Seaburg.

He was a great father to their daughter, Mrs. Seaburg said.  “They were close. They did everything together,” she said. “Hillary was in a travel league. He’d drive the girls all around...We have a pool in the backyard. They’d have talks in the pool.”

Mr. Seaburg liked wider expanses of water, too. He liked taking cruises with his family, and enjoyed Walt Disney World, Cape Cod, and Hawaii.

Mr. Seaburg was a good cook and worked as a line cook at Town ’N’ Country.  His breakfast sandwich was popular at the bowling alley, his wife said, and he also made a breakfast pizza.

“I trained him well,” said Mrs. Seaburg of his culinary skills. “He cooked at home, too...If he complained about a job I did, then that became his job.”

She recalled how once she had turned his underwear pink in the wash. After that, she said, “He did the laundry.”

Mr. Seaburg was a member of the Guilderland Elks 2480 and also was a volunteer firefighter for the Guilderland Fire Department, once being named Fireman of the Year. Although it was serious work, Mr. Seaburg showed his playful side at the department’s installation banquets. He’d throw rolls or cream containers to diners at other tables and they would toss them back, she said.

The couple’s favorite place to dine was the Chuck Wagon Diner on Western Avenue in Duanesburg. “We used to go all the time,” said Mrs. Seaburg. Her husband loved country music, she said, and enjoyed the tabletop jukeboxes there.

He often ended his thoughts by asking, “Do you know what I mean?”

His favorite movie was “Sweet Home Alabama.”  “But he’s never seen the ending,” Mrs. Seaburg said. “He’d fall asleep.”

She concluded, “He was easygoing.”

****

Wesley “Dutch” R.  Seaburg  is survived by his beloved wife of 33 years, Lynn Seaburg; his daughter, Hillary Seaburg, and her significant other, Allan Proskin Jr.; his brothers, Wendell Seaburg and his wife, Martha, Daniel Seaburg and his significant other, Mary Brady, and James Seaburg and his wife, Darlene; his brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Vincent and Michelle Ganance; his sister-in-law, Tammy Seaburg; his wife’s parents, Vincent and Joan Ganance; and several nieces and nephews.

Two of his brothers, Norval Seaburg and Jason Seaburg, died before him.

Calling hours and a funeral service were held at the DeMarco Stone Funeral Home in Guilderland on Friday, Feb. 17. Interment was private.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Guilderland Food Pantry, Hamilton Union Presbyterian Church, 2291 Western Ave., Guilderland, NY 12084.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer

 

More Obituaries

  • ALTAMONT — A patriot and principled man who valued faith and civic duty, Harry Carlson helped engineer the state’s highway system.

    He died on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024 with his family by his side. He was 92.

  • SLINGERLANDS — After a long and courageous battle with cancer, Gail P. Ryan-Tannen died on Thursday, March 7, 2024, at her home surrounded by her loving family. She was 78.

  • HIGHLAND, N.Y. — Kenneth G. Sisson, a carpenter by trade, who loved to snowmobile and hunt, died on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024. He was 84.

The Altamont Enterprise is focused on hyper-local, high-quality journalism. We produce free election guides, curate readers' opinion pieces, and engage with important local issues. Subscriptions open full access to our work and make it possible.