E.A.R.T.H. Club of Central New York

"Get involved,
make a difference!"
— John Seamon

John Seamon was a lover of history and belonged to several local historical groups in the area. So it was a natural step into metal detecting when he was introduced to the hobby by a fellow Orion bus employee Dave Tutuska in 1994. He joined up with the EARTH club shortly thereafter and served as vice-president under Stan Blazek for 2 years. With the resignation of Stan in 1998, John enthusiastically took over as club president.

He pretty much ran the club single-handedly, writing much of the newsletter, organizing monthly hunts, creating special awards to deserving members and doing nearly all of the leg work for the end of the season club hunt & Christmas banquet. He was a tireless and inspirational leader.

It was somewhere about this time that he found out he had cancer, having already lost his mother and a brother to the same disease. After initial treatment, the cancer temporarily went into remission and the hobby of metal detecting he so loved gave him the physiological therapy to continue on.

It was during this time that he discovered Camp Good Days & Special Times (an organization that sends kids with cancer to camp) and brought it to the attention of the club. Because of his own battle with cancer, he pushed for our club to sponsor this group through members’ donations and a large annual contribution which we continue today.

In the January 2002 issue of the EARTH club’s newsletter “Searchers along the Mohawk” John wrote a farewell letter which read in part, “After hours and hours of heart-wrenching thought, I have come to the decision to step down as club president effective after the March meeting. With my continuing failing health, I’m holding the club back from growing. That is the last thing I want; the club has come so far and I want it to go as far as it can. So for these reasons, with a very heavy heart, I make this decision.”

John passed away the very next month at age 53. As a tribute, the club voted unanimously to name the annual end of the season picnic/hunt “The John Seamon Memorial Picnic.”

2005 Picnic Pictures

The morning was a tad chilly but it quickly turned into a picture perfect day and as we arrived Dick & Johanna Stowell had already prepared the coffee and delicious donuts.

At 9:30am, the first hunt, a SILVER HUNT, where over $500 in silver coins plus additional tokens for prizes were buried in the sand beach of Lake Delta. This hunt lasted for 1/2 hour.

At 10:45 the 2nd hunt of the day, a CACHE HUNT, started and lasted for 45 minutes. Buried in this hunt was everything imaginable, silver coins, clad coins, foreign coins, magazine subscriptions, vials of CASH, and other surprises. The other surprises included 24K Gold Plated Silver Dollars.

Steve Martin, Judy Balch and others quickly got the grill going and soon, burgers, hot dogs and an enormous array of side dishes appeared and were soon emptied by the now hungry treasure hunters.

At 1pm, the 3rd hunt, the DETECTOR DERBY commenced. 100 numbered coins were planted on the beach and 3 numbers were pre-selected and put in a sealed envelope. After a full hour of searching for the numbered coins plus other unfound items we all headed back to the picnic grounds where the envelope was opened and the winning coin numbers announced. Ed Draguluski was the 3rd place winner and received a new digging trowel. Adam Soboloski was the 2nd place winner and won a White's Sweatshirt. Mike (I won again) Eychner won yet another metal detector, this year he added a new White's Prizm II to his growing collection.

At 2:40 the final hunt of the day, a special hunt, where those entered paid an additional $7 for the pleasure of competing for 3 EXCELLENT PRIZES. As luck would have it we had a tie for 1st place between Ralph Blencowe and Chris (why can't I use my big scoop) Verrenti with 14 coins each, and a tie for 3rd place between Floyd Dygert and Don Wertz with 13 coins each. Ralph and Chris went head to head for 1st place with Chris winning. Floyd and Don went head to head for 3rd place and Floyd won by one coin. Chris won a new Whites" PRIZM III detector, Ralph won a pair of KOSS HEADPHONES and Floyd won 2006 PROOF SET. Don took a NAP.

Sharon Macknair won the 50/50, Jay Miller won a White's BULLSEYE PINPOINTER, John Bradlinski got a new pair of headphones and Ed Dragulski won a beautiful hand made DETECTOR RACK made by Ed Netzband.

Many, many raffle prizes were awarded which included Subscriptions to Lost Treasure Magazine won by Ed Netzband, Adam Soboloski, and Chris Verrenti.

On behalf of ALL the EARTH Club members I would like to thank Stu Copperwheat, Larry Ehlinger, and all the officers (and their spouses) and the many volunteers for making this day a HUGE SUCCESS.