Anne Jean (Silver) Seger (1921-2008) was the Canton Center postmistress for 33 years until her retirement in 1995. Growing up on a farm in Avon as the middle of eleven children, she attended a one room schoolhouse. The stone silo on West Avon Road in Avon is all that remains of the family’s Mountain View Farm, which once produced hay and vegetables and was home to cows and chickens.

Popular at Farmington High School (then attended by Avon children), Seger graduated in 1939. In 1947 she married Clifford Seger after a few years of courtship and moved to his family’s farm on Barbourtown Road inCanton. Although the Segers were childless, Anne took care of the Canton Center postmaster’s children and eventually became his office assistant. Upon her boss’s retirement, Seger was given charge of the post office.

Seger was gregarious, warm and well liked. She was the go-to person for the latest news in the community and she knew everyone. “She never learned to drive, and walked one and a half miles to work in the dark in the morning, even in her 70s,” the late Sam Humphrey, Canton’s first selectman in the 1980s, told the Hartford Courant. Working long hours, she had a strong work ethic. Her career ended after she broke her hip in 1995.

Active in the Cawasa Grange for 50 years, she served as the organization’s secretary and was a leader in preparing the annual turkey dinner. She also contributed to Red Cross blood drives.

Seger died at age 86 and is buried in Dyer Cemetery.

For more about Seger go to http://www.obittree.com/obituary/us/connecticut/simsbury/vincent-funeral-home—simsbury/anne-seger/167054/ or http://articles.courant.com/2008-03-16/features/0803130683_1_anne-s-seger-canton-creamery-job

“Your Silent Neighbors” introduces readers to people out of Canton’s past. Readers are encouraged to visit these gravesites and pay their respects to the people who have helped make our community what it is today.