[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 21 (Thursday, March 5, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E315]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  A TRIBUTE TO CHARLES HERBERT SEATON

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. RANDY ``DUKE'' CUNNINGHAM

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 5, 1998

  Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the life 
of Charles Herbert Seaton. Herb, as we knew him, was a long time 
scoutmaster, role model and friend to hundreds of children and young 
men in North San Diego County, and a fine engineer and public servant.
  He was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania on September 13, 1928 to 
Charles Swan and Mary Elizabeth Kelley Seaton. He attended East 
Bethlehem Township High School and Pennsylvania State University, where 
he graduated in June 1949 with a degree in aeronautical engineering. 
During the summer of 1948 he worked for the U.S. Navy at the David 
Taylor Model Basin in Carderock, Maryland testing models of airplanes 
and missiles. After his graduation from Penn State, he was an 
instructor in the aeronautical engineering department and attended 
graduate school until 1951. On December 16, 1950 he married Jean Louise 
Harte, the daughter of Loyal Bert Harte and Sarah Eva Gray.
  The young Seatons moved to San Diego, California in 1951 where Herb 
was employed at Convair as a senior aerodynamics engineer, working on 
the F-102 interceptor airplane, the Atlas rocket program, and other 
launch vehicles. In October 1961, Herb's work moved him to the 
Aeronautical Division of Ford Motor Company in Newport Beach, 
California, where he was employed as a principal engineer until January 
1962, when he was appointed Assistant Director of Nuclear Flight 
Systems at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
headquarters in Washington, D.C. For several technical and other 
reasons, nuclear rocket propulsion did not catch on, and the Seatons 
returned to California in July 1963, where he applied his expertise in 
nuclear engineering and propulsion for a number of firms and as a 
consultant, eventually arriving in North San Diego County with five 
children in the fall of 1968.
  Herb's most memorable role was in his local community. He served as 
President of the Parents and Teachers Association at Ocean Knoll 
Elementary School in Encinitas, California in 1972 when his two 
youngest children were enrolled there. As a leader in the Boy Scouts of 
America for more than 20 years, he served as Scoutmaster of Troop 777, 
San Diego County Council (now Desert-Pacific Council). This troop grew 
to be one of the largest troops in its district and produced many Eagle 
Scouts. For his devotion to scouting, he was awarded the Order of Merit 
and Silver Beaver by the Boy Scouts of America. He was also a very 
active member of International Rotary since 1969, most recently with 
the Kearny Mesa Club. Every Christmas season he donated his time to 
play Santa Claus for the Rotary Club and for the Children's Home 
Society.
  His death came on February 12, 1998 at home in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, 
California. He leaves five children behind: Charles Bret Seaton of San 
Diego, California; Gary Bruce Seaton of Newport Beach, California; Carl 
Evan Seaton of Vista, California; LT Scott Montgomery Seaton, MC USNR 
of Chesapeake, Virginia; and Mrs. Lauren Louise Stills of Santa Monica, 
California. He also leaves five grandchildren.
  Let the permanent Record of the Congress of the United States show 
that Herb's life exemplified the Scouting and Rotarian traditions of 
service to community, and that he leaves behind this legacy for his 
family, friends, and fellow Americans to emulate.

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