Kenneth Steven Seaman

Kenneth Steven Seaman, 67, took his final flight home March 8, 2017. He leaves his wife of 46 years, Linda, and 4 children: Brian (Barbara) of Sublimity, Oregon; Tara Hutchinson of San Antonio; Caron Thomas of San Antonio; and David (Anna) of San Antonio, and one grandson, Avery Michael Thomas currently residing in Germany. He also leaves behind two brothers, Ronald and Larry Seaman, both of Pensacola Florida, and many nieces and nephews. Preceding him in death was his father, Roy Arthur Seaman, and mother, Mary Louise (Trigg) Seaman, and one brother, Mark.

Ken was born on January 28, 1950 in Higginsville, MO. With his father being in the Air Force, Ken was fortunate enough to live in many states during his lifetime. He graduated from East Anchorage High School in 1968, and proceeded to join the Army in the field of Army Aviation. At this time his two older brothers, who were also in Army Aviation, were flying helicopters in the war in Vietnam, and Ken was posted to Korea for the DMZ conflict where he spent approximately a year and a half. He was honorably discharged from the Army as the Vietnam conflict began to wind down. During this time he continued living in Anchorage, where he met his wife to be, Linda Dechant. They were married Sept 18, 1971.

In the years that followed, Ken worked at various aviation companies, gaining flight hours and aviation certificates; to include flight instructor helicopter, single and multi –engine land and single engine sea. He especially enjoyed doing SES instruction on the many lakes in Alaska, which may or may not have included time fishing. He worked for Evergreen Helicopters, generally flying in the bush, fighting forest fires most of the summers. He achieved his commercial pilots license in both helicopter and multi engine and type ratings, and began working for commuter airlines in the area. Eventually he went back to flying for Evergreen Helicopters in Anchorage, working his way up to Vice President in Charge of Operations for the Anchorage base of the McMinnville, Oregon company.

In 1979 he decided to switch to flying commercial cargo jets for Evergreen Airlines, and went to school for DC-9 operations. He had also joined the Alaska National Guard as a helicopter pilot part-time. As he gained time and experience with Evergreen Helicopters, he moved into flying the 747 cargo jets all over the world, to include taking civilian part in Operation Enduring Freedom, bringing home our fallen heroes on their final flight. In 1999 the family moved to Turner, Oregon where they enjoyed many years gardening and ranching. In 2001 he was flying a 747 into Landstuhl, Germany when he heard the Air Force flight carrying his daughter Tara, who was in the Army and had lost her leg in Iraq, taking off to airlift her to the United States. Ken was the number one pilot in accumulative years for Evergreen for many years, flying cargo routes mainly around the Pacific Rim before his retirement. At his retirement, he had flown for them for over 30 years. He finished his career with over 23,500 flight hours, including a little over 5000 hours in helicopter.

In 2014, the family moved to San Antonio Texas to be closer to their Wounded Warrior daughter Tara, and to enjoy the sunshine, warmer temperatures and more conservative environment of Texas. Ken was an excellent all around handyman and put in an awesome garden for Linda before his death, although he suffered from heart ailments at the time. He will be greatly missed.

Kenneth will be laid to rest on March 27, 2017 at 9:45 A.M. at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery with Military Honors.