VIRGINIA SEAMANS, INSPIRATION FOR THE WEST SACRAMENTO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
By Louisa R. Vessell
The name Virginia Seamans means a lot to the West Sacramento Historical Society because she was the driving force, along with Bryan Turner, to create the Society. She provided the seed money for its founding and always wanted to see a historical museum in West Sacramento, where she lived until her death in February 1999 at 84
years of age. What caused Viriginia's passion for a historical society in West Sacramento? Who was she?
She was born Virginia Shepherdson in Peoria, Illinois and studied at the University of Illinois, where she earned her B.A. in Education in 1936. Virginia and one of her sisters spent their summers studying art in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico during this period. She taught school for seven years after graduating and then joined the U.S. Marine Corps Women's Reserve for two years.
In 1944 Virginia married Army Captain Theodore Seamans, when they were both on leave. In 1946, with WW II having ended, they traveled to Mexico City where they took graduate courses at the University of Mexico. Once they returned to the United States, they lived in the East Bay where Virginia worked at the USDA Research Lab in Albany and her husband completed his Ph.D.
In 1954 they moved to West Sacramento, where she and her husband taught school for many years. During those years, Virginia prepared elaborate dinners for as many as thirty students, all jovially crowded into the couple's tract home of less than 1,000 square feet. She would also host smaller gatherings, too, where students met with the Seamans' friends from Mexico.
Virginia and Ted traveled the United States, Mexico, Europe, North Africa, Japan and the former Soviet Union. She was an ardent supporter of the arts, attending opera, ballet, theater, concerts, and exhibitions at museums. She loved participating in multicultural events and appreciated diversity. She spoke Spanish and especially loved the Mexican people and their food, which she often prepared in her solar box cooker. She practiced yoga and was extremely limber: she could often be seen in the middle of her living room floor seated in a lotus position.
Virginia was a Life member of the Women Marines Association and was actively involved with the East Yolo Friends of the Library, Circulo Hispano and the West Sacramento Senior Center.
Another of Virginia's passions was swimming. She was part of a senior swimming group at the YMCA indoor pool in Sacramento. For several years, she participated in a swim-a-thon to raise money for charity by completing so many laps across that Olympic-sized pool. She invited friends and Dr. Seamans' former students to sponsor her. A student who witnessed one such event was amazed that Virginia in her seventies could swim farther than the student in her thirties.
After her husband passed away, Virginia applied for a Thanks Be to Grandmother Winefred Foundation grant to write a book on water exercises with senior citizens in mind. She won the grant and was working on the final draft when she died. She even had an exercise pool with a walk-in cover installed in her backyard so she could practice and test the exercises. The historical society oversaw the completion of her book, "Ballet for the Bones," and recently had it published. It is available through the West Sacramento Historical Society Museum and Visitors Center.
Virginia was a unique individual who appreciated everyone; was always interested in learning; who always had a positive attitude; who made an impact on everyone she met and continuously advocated for a historical museum in West Sacramento. Even though she wasn't at the museum opening, she was there in spirit and still has an impact on the society she helped to found. We are constantly reminded: "What would Virginia think? Is this what she would want?" Virginia Shepherdson Seamans was wise, witty, enthusiastic, and adventurous. Her spirit is still a driving force in the community and an inspiration for us all.
