Herald Times Report, Monday, October 20, 1975 pp. 1 and 2

Seymour Althen, Newsman, Is Dead
Seymour S. Althen, veteran journalist who was affectionately known as "Mr.
Two Rivers," died Saturday at Two Rivers Community Hospital. He was 76.
Althen, of 1616-26th St., Two Rivers, had undergone surgery earlier last week.
Althen's newspaper career spanned nearly 65 years. He began writing news when
he was 11 years old, working for his father, Frederick, who had established
the Two Rivers Weekly Reporter in 1905.
After his father died, Seymour Althen went to Milwaukee where he was employed
for a period during World War I by the Milwaukee Sentinel. He returned to Two
Rivers and did public relations work for Mirro Aluminum Co. and operated the
plants print shop.
When the Two Rivers Daily Reporter was established in August of 1928, Althen
became city editor and sports editor. He became editor in 1938 and later con-
tinued to serve as editorial consultant after the paper merged with the
Manitowoc Herald-Times.
While holding the posts of city and sports editor, Althen produced a sports
column "Seemore with Seymour" which had a wide readership.
Althen was know as "the talkative gentleman," who wrote as he spoke, with
considerable enthusiasm. The enthusiasm and smile he continually evidenced
earned for him a special citation from the City of Two Rivers.
In October of 1967 when the Two Rivers Chamber of Commerce honored Althen with
a special program, the common Council cited him as a "citizen extraordinaire
and ambassador of good will for the City of Two Rivers over a period extending
more than a half century."
In a capsule obituary account, that he prepared in 1967, Althen said, "his fondest
recollections in newspaper work was his discovery that Two Rivers was the birth-
place of the ice cream sundae after interviewing the late Edward C. (Eddie) Berners,
the inventor, in the summer of 1929, who operated an ice cream parlor on 16th Street
next to Malley Printing Co."
Althen wrote:
"That Two Rivers was the definite birthplace of the sundae was established by the
late H.L. Mencken, editor of the Baltimore (Continued on Page 2)
Seymour (Continued from Page 1)
Sun and author of the American Language, after more than a year of correspondence
with Althen."
But Althen recorded a number of other "firsts" in his long newspaper career.
As the inveterate booster for Two Rivers, Althen used a snowball fight in July of
1936 to kick off the annual observance of the famous snowball festivals in his
adopted city.
A works progress administration (WPA) worker came into his office and dropped snow
on his desk. The snow was uncovered in a ravine after a bulldozer had removed top
soil. "A bunch of us went down and stared a snowball fight," Althen recalled.
The fight became a national news story which he filed with The Associated Press and
also was the start of the annual snow festival sponsored by the Jaycees.
Another highlight was covering the story about a runaway freight train from the
Calumet Yards at Manitowoc and which had stopped when it dropped in the Two Rivers
harbor. He wore his pajamas covered with a coat on that chilly morning in March of
1958.
He was instrumental in the merger of the Chambers of Commerce of Two Rivers and
Manitowoc several years ago and he was cited by the combined Manitowoc-Two Rivers
Chamber of Commerce for this effort when he was presented with its annual Speak Up
Award in 1972.
Althen's crowning achievement was the Carlton-on-the Lake complex, supper club and
motel. He pushed vigorously for its completion afer it had been dormant a number of
years and the skeleton of the initial project had been ridiculed. In recognition of
his efforts up to 1971, Althen was named president of the corporation and he actively
pursued every phase of the undertaking until it opened for business. One of the
restaurant rooms is named in his honor.
While newspapering had always been his first love, Althen became involved in athletics
and music, and they also received his full attention.
In 1929, he was one of the organizers of Meistersinger Guild Male Chorus, which
competed in Chicagoland Music Festival for a number of years, twice winning first
place. He was the tenor of the Inter-City Four, a male quartet which was active for
more than 25 years throughout the state.
The quartet assisted in developing barbershop society chapters later, including
Manitowoc and Sheboygan. He was an avid supporter of the Schmitt Brothers Quartet
of Two Rivers, writing reams of copy about the singers and traveling extnesively
with the brothers on their engagements. It was Joseph Schmitt who dubbed Althen as
"Cy."
After World War I, Althen enlisted in Troop C. 105th Calvary, Wisconsin National
Guard at Two Rivers, and while employed a Mirro he helped to establish the old Mirro
Baseball club which in the late 1920s won the Wisconsin State League title.
He took the initiative in bringing professional football teams, such as the Philadelphia
Eagles and Chicago Rockets, to Two Rivers for their summer training.
For many years he served as secretary of the Two Rivers Chamber of Commerce and was
also active in the Chamber when it became Manitowoc-Two Rivers Chamber of Commerce.
He was the first Two Rivers resident to receive the Chamber's Distinguished Service
Award. The jaycees presented him with the award and made him an honorary member in
1941.
Althen liked to tell about the time, when he was nine years old, that he slept with
poet Carl Sandburg, a writer for a short time for The Reporter.
"The arrangement was necessary," he said, "because Sandburg was a houseguest and
there weren't enough beds."
Althen's father was an ardent Socialist in those days. He named all of his children
after prominent Socialists of that era. Seymour was named after a Chicago attorney,
Seymour Stedman.
Althen was a long-time member-nearly 45 years-of the Two Rivers Lions club, serving
in its earlier years as president and deputy district governor. He was also a veteran
member of Two Rivers Elks Lodge No. 1380 and was a past president of the Wisconsin
Associated Press Assn.
Althen was a member of Two Rivers Lodge No. 200, F. and A.M., Barney G. Lyman Chapter
No. 116, Royal Arch Masons, Manitowoc Commandery No. 45, Knights Templar, Tripoli
Shrine of Milwaukee and Two Rivers-Manitowoc Shrine Club.
Althen was a native of Manitowoc and was educated in Two Rivers public schools.
Surviving him are his wife, two brothers and a sister.
Funeral services will be Tuesday afternoon with burial at Two Rivers.

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(8 June 1899/Oct. 1975/SSDI)
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