1940 – 2016

JAY — Leon Eugene Seamon, 76, passed away peacefully at home in Jay on Saturday, Dec. 31, after a brief struggle with cancer. Surrounded by family, he passed in the same home in which he was born.

He leaves his wife of 52 years, Dawn (Davis) Seamon, originally of Wilton; their three daughters, Kathy McGovern, of Buxton, and her husband, Matt, and their two children, Brett and Meaghan, Pam Wagner, of Freeport, and her husband, Phil, and their two children, Alexandra and Benjamin, and Julie Seamon of Orlando, Fla.

Born Aug. 18, 1940, to parents Twining Joshua and Nettie Mae (Gross) Seamon, he was the 10th of 11 children. He graduated from Jay High School in 1957 and attended the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Conn., for three-plus years. Leon worked various jobs over the years as a woodcutter, as a hand sewer at G.H. Bass in Wilton, at International Paper in Jay, and at the James River/Otis Mill in Jay for more than 25 years, until his retirement in 2003.

From the 1980s through the early 2000s, he and Dawn planted and operated Seamon’s Orchard on Route 133 in Jay, a well-known fixture in the area. In retirement, he spent the winter months with Dawn at a second home in Hernando Beach, Fla., where he enjoyed gardening, sunshine, and watching the canals for signs of dolphin, fish and manatee. There he met dear friends Gerry and Kathy Wilson of Powers, Mich., and Hernando Beach, Fla., and Bill and Mary Smith of Spring Hill, Fla.

In Maine, he spent recent summers at “Hav-a-Rest” cottage on Hewitt Island, where he loved to lobster, clam and fish the waters around the Mussel Ridge channel, and also watch sunsets from the back “ledges.” On Hewitt Island, he built treasured friendships with many area residents and islanders, creating numerous, cherished family memories.

Leon enjoyed the outdoors. He spent many vacations and outings with family and friends on the Maine coast, the Seboeis River and Spring Lake (where he and Dawn had a camp for a number of years), boating and fishing off the Gulf Coast of Florida, smelting in the spring and winter, and fishing the “big brook,” which runs through the family farm, as a young boy and through adulthood.

He is survived by his sisters, Arlene Brimigion and her husband, Henry “Palmer,” of Wilton, Erma Grimaldi and her husband, Joe, of Jay, Laura Webber of Fowlerville, Mich., Miriam Ewing of Port Charlotte, Fla., and Brenda Endicott and her companion, Clyde Young, of Freeport; sister-in-law, Lois Seamon of Farmington Falls; brother-in-law, Craig Davis and wife, Sondra, of Wilton; brother-in-law, Dale Davis and wife, Wendy, of Carthage; 31 nieces and nephews; and hundreds of grand-nieces and nephews and great-grand nieces and nephews.

He was predeceased by sister, Eleanor (Seamon) Adams and her husband, Fred “Sargie” Adams; brothers, Orland “Bub” Seamon and Alton “Babe” Seamon; sister, Althea (Seamon) Hoisington; brother-in-law, John Ewing; and niece, Debbie Ewing.

The family extends special thanks to neighbors Larry and Sandra Lord of Jay, longtime friend Alan Knowlton of Spruce Head Island, Joe and Erica Couture of Burlington, Vt., and Hewitt Island, Jeanne Brown of Portsmouth, N.H., and Hewitt Island, Kendall and Betsy Prichard of Worcester, Mass., and Hewitt Island, Theron Tweedie of Spruce Head Island, Dwayne and Susie Wells of North New Portland, and Tim Richards and Joel Verney, both of Alna.

Tributes and condolences may be shared on his memorial wall at www.wilesrc.com