Earl Seifert Receives Cardinal Citation Award

 

 

Earl V. Seifert, class of 1941, received the 30^th annual Cardinal Citation Award at Commencement May 18. The award is given by Labette Community College and the LCC Alumni Association for outstanding contributions to the college, community, and to the recipient’s profession.

 

“Sixty years ago when my junior college class graduated at Rees Hughes Field, the outlook for us was much different than it is for you today,” Seifert told graduates at this year’s Commencement. “Back then, during World War Two, about the only thing young men had to look forward to was military service. Women were favored to get jobs at home that supported the war effort. Today, there are unlimited opportunities for you to achieve whatever you want.”

 

Seifert was the first member of his family to graduate from college. “I got a military deferment to finish my engineering degree at Kansas State, then I joined the Navy.”

 

He spent eleven years in the U.S. Navy and left in 1954 to become a product engineer for Western Electric company, Kearny, New Jersey. He moved to Parsons in 1950 to be assistant engineer of tests for the Missouri Kansas Texas Railroad (Katy). In 1957 he joined the Dayton Superior Corporation in Parsons as sales and product engineer. He retired from Dayton in 1987 and still lives in Parsons.

 

He has been actively involved as an elder in the First Presbyterian Church, Parsons, and in many community organizations. He is a member of the Parsons Arboretum Foundation, Parsons Amateur Woodworker’s Society, and Parsons Historical Society Board. He is past president of the LCC Alumni Association Board, former member of the Labette County Planning and Zoning Commission, and former board member of LCC Foundation, Parsons Community Foundation, Parsons Public Library, Parsons American Red Cross Chapter, Parsons YMCA, American Concrete Pavement Association, and the Concrete Reinforcement Steel Institute.

 

He is a past board member and past chairman of the Labette County Economic Development Committee and the Parsons Recreation Commission, and a past president of the Parsons Kiwanis Club.

 

Seifert’s woodworking skills in making beautiful and long lasting furniture are attested to by the placement of many of his pieces in homes and businesses in the area, and by the many handmade items he has contributed to fundraising events over the years.

 

“I guess I got my interest in woodworking from my grandfather, although he died the year I was born. He was an old-time blacksmith and when that business died out he want to school in St. Louis to learn woodworking. He started his own woodworking shop and I inherited some of his tools.”

 

His love and appreciation for the value of trees is evident in his work for the Parsons Arboretum. The Earl Seifert Visitor Center at the arboretum was named in his honor last year. He received the Kansas State Forester’s Award in Urban and Community Forestry in 1996 and was named volunteer of the Year in 1993 by the Kansas Recreation and Parks Department.

 

He and his wife, Charlotte, have been married since 1951. They have three children and six grandchildren.