Treasure Chest Thursday - SPHS Graduation 1949

My dad was a 1949 graduate of South Portland High School.

Some of the teachers he had were just starting their teaching careers back then, but were still teaching when I went through SPHS, some in their last year before retiring.  In the program from his graduation ceremony pictured below, Miss Madeline Perazzi accompanied the singing of  " The Spirit of the Red and White." 

 She was still there when I graduated in 1973.  And there's dad's name, Seavey, Richard Packard, under "General Course."  

This Is Where I Came In

So begins the story of me, and, more significantly, the story of all the generations of down-easters, hailing from Maine, New Hampshire, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, which preceded me.


The event celebrated here, the marriage of my parents, joined the Seavey and Bustin families.  As the oldest of their four children, I have taken it upon myself to memorialize, categorize, and preserve the rich history of my family.


It is a family deeply rooted in New England and the Maritimes, full of hard-working men and women, farmers, factory and mill workers, housewives and homemakers.  As they lived their lives from day to day, they knew good times and rough.  As such, they are a reflection of the sturdy, bedrock communities that make up what it means to be from Down East.


I have been working on this genealogy off and on for several years, and it clearly is a work in progress, albeit a labor of love.  My goal is to document here my efforts, challenges, and successes.  Hopefully, my family, and other historians, will gain insight and inspiration from what is collected here.