Edward M. Seaver, 92, PGW mechanic and World War II veteran

Edward M. Seaver, 92, of Wallingford, a retired mechanic for Philadelphia Gas Works and a World War II Army veteran, died Friday, May 18, of pneumonia at Riddle Memorial Hospital.

During his 38-year PGW career, starting in 1950, Mr. Seaver rose from service man to area supervisor, and finally to shop foreman, at the utility's 28th and Porter Street station.

He loved to tell stories about what happened at work. In one such account, he was called to investigate the smell of gas coming from a home on South Alder Street in South Philadelphia in January 1977. He knocked on the door of the man who lived next door, and warned him to leave the property.

Soon afterward, the buildings exploded, touching off a three-alarm fire that forced the evacuation of 125 nearby residents into 5-degree weather. The structures were destroyed, but no one was injured, the South Philadelphia Review reported.

Mr. Seaver was proud of having hooked up gas service in 1970 for the first Urban Outfitters retail store in West Philadelphia.

When Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in 1979, Mr. Seaver was on duty, in case gas lines had to be turned off, his family said. He also was present on the 6200 block of Osage Avenue during the armed confrontation between the City of Philadelphia and MOVE members on May 13, 1985.

"He was going into those homes turning off the gas to make sure those homes didn't explode," said his daughter, Kathleen Coyne. "He worked all night."

Mr. Seaver retired three years later.

Born in West Philadelphia to Frank Seaver and Mary McCormick, he won a partial scholarship to St. Joseph's Preparatory School and played clarinet in the school's inaugural marching band.

After graduating in 1944, he was drafted into the Army and deployed to the European theater. On March 13, 1945, while en route to England, he survived a mid-Atlantic collision between the French Aircraft Carrier Béarn and the USAT McAndrew carrying 1,974 U.S. troops.

The French ship lost its steering while underway as part of an Allied convoy. It veered into the McAndrew at 4 a.m., punching a hole in the hull and throwing 81 sleeping soldiers into heavy seas. Despite rescue efforts by two accompanying destroyers, 68 died.

"He was there, right next to where it was hit," said his wife, Kathryn McGinley Seaver. "He wasn't in that [sleeping] compartment, but the next one over." His daughter said the men were told to be ready to abandon ship, but didn't have to.

Later in 1945, when Mr. Seaver finally reached his destination in Nuremberg, Germany, he served as a mail clerk during the Nuremberg War Trials. He was honorably discharged with the rank of corporal in 1946.

"He got to witness a lot of the trial," his wife said.

After returning home, Mr. Seaver met Kathryn McGinley at Chez Vous dance hall and roller-skating rink in Upper Darby. They married in March 1951, and raised their daughter in Glenolden.

A longtime member of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Secane, Mr. Seaver could fix almost anything. He contributed his time and skills as a handyman to family, friends, neighbors, and the church.

Mr. Seaver enjoyed playing craps at the casinos in Atlantic City and fishing. He had fished on the banks of the Schuylkill in Fairmount Park as a boy and later graduated to the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean. "I think he was happiest when he was fishing," his wife said.

In later years, Mr. Seaver battled dementia. In 2014, he and his wife moved in with his daughter in Wallingford.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Seaver is survived by two granddaughters; a great-granddaughter; and many nieces and nephews. Three brothers and two sisters died earlier.

A visitation starting at 9:30 a.m. Friday, May 25, will be followed by a 10:30 a.m. Funeral Mass at St. John Chrysostom Church, 617 S. Providence Rd., Wallingford. Burial is private.

Memorial contributions may be made to Mercy LIFE, One West Elm Street Conshohocken, Pa. 19428 or via https://giving.mercyhealth.org/mercy-life.