Einar Axel Seger
(Born November 21, 1903; Died July 18,1960, in Merrill, WI)

As a boy Einar worked with his father Axel as a carpenter's assistant. One of the jobs included the construction of the bridge spanning the Wisconsin River from the west side to the sixth ward. He graduated from Merrill High School and Lincoln County Normal School. Attended Marquette University for one year. He married Esther Helen Anderson June 9, 1926. Taught school in the areas surrounding Merrill, in Harrison and In Tomahawk. Sold insurance, sold shoes, sold animal feeds. Was branch manager for the Milwaukee Journal in Eau Claire, WI from 1935 to 1938. Returned to Merrill and in 1942 was elected City Clerk which position he held for eight years until he was defeated in an election by an illiterate bar tender. He turned down an offer at that time to serve as Deputy Clerk (at a considerable increase in salary!) and accepted a position as bookkeeper for Merrill Motor Sales, Co., the local Chevrolet agency.

He was an active lay leader at St. Stephens Evangelical and Reformed Church in Merrill, a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and of the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. During the second world war he served as leader of the Boy Scouts in Merrill and at that time earned the Eagle Scout Award. He specialized in tax accounting and provided tax assistance to many in the Merrill area.

Einar had a rare red blood cell condition and was of the type "O", universal donor Blood Group and became a generous blood donor in the late 1940s and 1950s. In the late 1950s he developed an aneurism on his aortic blood vessel and was among an early group of individuals to undergo open heart surgery in 1957. After a prolonged convalescence he had just arrived at a full recovery when on July 18, 1960 he happened to be passing by the J.C. Penny Co. store on Main Street in Merrill on the way to his car parked in an adjacent lot just when the building was destroyed by a gas explosion. He died immediately. 56 Years, 260 days. His wife Esther died April 16, 1974. Both are buried in Merrill Memorial Park. (1951 Family Picture)
(More Family pictures)

Children:

Jack Einar Seger: Born January 15, 1930, in Merrill, WI
January 2002 he lives in Cambridge, WI Companion now is Mary Jane Krueger. With Donna Rankin Jack had daughter Dawn Louise, sons David and John.)

James Allen: Born June 13, 1933 in Merrill, WI
January 2002 he lives in Amesbury, MA