Obituary printed in Jan. 16, 2004 Enterprise, Blair, NE; portrait in paper

John P. Seburg, 63

Former Blair resident John P. Seburg, 63, of Omaha, died Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2004, in Omaha.

Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 19, at First Lutheran Church in Blair. Interment will be in Westlawn Cemetery in Omaha. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18, at Campbell-Aman Funeral Home. The family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m.

John P. Seburg was born Dec. 19, 1940, in Minneapolis, Minn., to Stan and Doris Seburg. He graduated from high school in 1958 from Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis, then attended California Lutheran Bible School. He graduated from Dana College in 1965, then earned a Master of Science degree in education from Wayne State College in 1977. He was a long-time fifth grade teacher with Blair Community Schools.

He married Jeanette Bauder of Millard on June 3, 1967.

He is survived by his wife, Jeanette; son, Randy Seburg of Collegeville, Penn.; daughters and sons-in-law, Roxanne and Randy Smith of Blair, Sheri and Jay Plugge of Omaha; four grandchildren; his parents, Stan and Doris Seburg of Minneapolis; siblings, Paul, Judy, Marcia and Jim; many other relatives and special friends.

Memorials are suggested to Open Door Youth Center in Battle Lake, Minn. Campbell-Aman Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Obituary printed in Jan. 20, 2004 Pilot-Tribune, Blair Nebraska

A man who could ‘light up a room’

Fellow educators, former students loved Mr. Seburg (by Doug Barber, editor)

Jeri Pederson cried at her daughter Katelyn’s final fifth-grade parent teacher conference in 2002.

The tears were not over her daughter’s performance in school. The tears were for Katelyn’s teacher, John Seburg, who war retiring that year after 34 years in education, 34 years in which Seburg taught Jeri (in 1971), her husband, Curt (1975), and all four of their children in the fifth grade.

The Pedersons and countless others shed tears again on Monday, Jan. 19, when John Seburg was laid to rest. He died on Jan. 14 after a fight with malignant brain cancer. He was 63.

In every child’s education, one or two teachers stand out as favorites. For hundreds of students who were educated in Blair, Mr. Seburg was one of those favorites.

“He had that special ability to make connections with kids,” said Roger Petersen, a close friend and fellow educator in Blair. “He had a certain zest for life that was contagious and the kids loved it.”

“He was one of those teachers that had a very profound and positive effect on students’ attitudes toward school and learning,” Petersen added. “Many students every year would come back to see Mr. Seburg.”

Seburg was also part entertainer, which endeared him to students and kept their attention.

“He could always get their interest and get them involved in learning activities,” said Petersen, who retired as Arbor Park Middle School principal the same year Seburg ended his teaching career.

“He could light up a room,” said Todd Wick, who taught with Seburg for 12 years and coached soccer with him for three years. “He had such a way of grasping kids’ attention.

“He just made everybody feel good about things; he always had things in the proper perspective,” Wick added. “He will definitely be missed around our building.”

Wick remembered one occasion when a group of high school students was scheduled to come to Arbor Park to give the fifth graders a demonstration. The high schoolers were delayed and “John just kind of got up there and did a stand-up routine and kept the kids amused for 20 minutes until the high school students showed up.”

“He had fun and it really carried over into his teaching and to the kids, “ Wick added.

Jeri Pederson still remembers a song she learned from Seburg as a way of remembering the U.S. Presidents. Everyone in her family knows the song. Every member of her family also learned to play chess from Seburg and several learned to ice skate.

“He was such a generous man,” she said. “I think the most important thing was we were all the same and we were all made to feel important. He had such a gift to share with everyone.”

Holly Smith said Mr. Seburg inspired her daughter Shae to want to be a teacher and rewarded her son Tyler’s good work with Matchbox cars to add to his collection.

“He just made life such a joy for the kids,” she said. “They loved to be around him. We all loved him to pieces.”

It’s probably appropriate that Mr. Seburg’s funeral took place on a cold January day. The Minnesota native loved cold weather and shared that joy with young people. He was known to go out on the playground and help build snow forts and he gladly shared his love for ice skating and hockey.

“His Minnesota upbringing took over during the winter months,” Roger Petersen said. “He loved cold weather. Cold weather meant ice skating and for years he shared his passion for skating with hundreds of Blair children. He would loan or even give them skates and he spent a lot of time teaching them the fundamentals of skating and hockey.”

Seburg’s willingness to give his time and talent in such a way typified his approach to education and to life.

“He just enjoyed teaching and he enjoyed kids,” Petersen said. “He was like the pied piper. He would lead and students would happily follow.”

Campbell-Aman Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~

FindaGrave Memorial # 125065628