by Nancy Besonen

   A towering elm triggered a memory, and a L’Anse scene from the 1950’s has been identified.
   Clyde Elmblad and Noreen Seavoy, both of L’Anse, thought there was something familiar about the lone tree in the background of the history photo printed in the Feb. 5 issue of the L’Anse Sentinel. That landmark plus a telltale hat helped Seavoy identify her grandfather, Meador Seavoy Sr., as one of the men pictured fencing in a field 
   “We used to play there,” said Elmblad, whose property on Meador Street is part of the pastoral photo shown above. “If you look down at the base (of the elm), you can see a darkened hole where we would climb inside it.
   “The tree was actually on my property,” he added, “and between there and where the men are working, that’s owned by my next door neighbor, Bob Karvonen.”
   Meador Seavoy, Sr. grew potatoes on part of the land, Elmblad said, evidenced by a blackened strip shown in the background. The farmhouse and some of the outbuildings shown above were owned by Alvin Lydman.
   Noreen Seavoy also recognized the tree, as well as the beret-style cap Meador Seavoy, Sr. always wore. Meador is pictured second from the right in the photo above, head bent over his work. His son, Skip, is keeping an eye on the camera as he

takes a break front and center.
   “He (Meador Sr.) always wore that hat,” Seavoy said, adding that “Every kid in the neighborhood tried to burn that tree down in the spring–and every kid in the neighborhood would crawl into it during the rain, including my kids.”
   Seavoy was married to Meador’s grandson, now deceased, and she fondly remembers Meador Sr. for both his hard work and generosity. Meador “owned half the town” at one time, she said, and shopped at businesses that rented from him to help them meet their bills.
   “He brought, literally, carloads of potatoes, rutabagas, cabbages to our house,” Seavoy said. “When Bill Sands rented his store, he bought pork and roasts there–you had food delivered whether you wanted or needed it, or not!”
   Seavoy said that Meador’s father, John Paul Savioure, immigrated to Canada from France, and that he and his Native American wife had seven children. All of them drifted down into the lower 48. The secret to Meador’s success in Baraga County was simple, Seavoy said: Hard work.
   “He had everything from a livery stable downtown to property in Marquette,” Seavoy said. “He was an entrepreneur. I think he did a lot of horse trading, too.”
   Meador made his own soap, Seavoy said, and when he was over 80 years old he was accidentally burned by lye that had spilled onto a

face towel. He eventually died as a result of the trauma.
   “He sure took care of his family,” Seavoy remembers, “and he was good to them.”
   After so many years of sheltering children and surviving the fires they set in its base, the old elm was cut down in the 1970s when Elmblad’s uncle, Ray, created a subdivision. Elmblad said he has told his daughter, Megan, about the tree he once played in, and was happy to point it out to her on the Sentinel history page.
   “I’ve always wanted to see a picture of that old elm tree!” he said.
Footnote–
   On Tuesday morning, a note came in from a subscriber downstate who wished to shed even more light on the history photo: “If you were to stand roughly at the intersection of Meador St. and Blankenhorn St. and look about south, you would be close to where the photographer stood...the farm in the background belonged to Joe Kemp in those days, and is just outside the village limits. Alvin Lydman lived thee for many years and his family may possibly still. The sheriff and owner of that land at that time was Meador Seavoy, my grandfather, and he had a farm with a big barn just off camera to the right. He had up to 40 head of dairy cows in later years.”
   Thanks to all for your much appreciated input!