DEARBORN, Mo. — Elaine Greer has always looked up to her cousin, Earl Seymour, a Navy pilot, who currently lives in John Knox Village in southern Kansas City.
Seymour played a big part in the Switch Track Mall in Dearborn, when he donated his model train collection to Greer, who opened shop on May 3, 2017.
The Kansas City native began working on model trains while in the service in World War II, while on active duty in 1946. He also had tours in Korea and Vietnam and all the while kept working on the model train collection. Seymour, who rose to a commander, had 87 landings on two different carriers in his time in the service.
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Earl Seymour will be one of the World War II veterans honored in a parade in Dearborn on Saturday afternoon. The Kansas City native is cousins with Switch Track Mall owner Elaine Greer and he donated his model train set to the business.
The giant collection was taken from Seymour’s house and now resides in Greer’s building at 201 Main Street in Dearborn and now two trains runs daily for visitors to watch. That is just a part of the building that features a community room and a sales floor for antiques and crafts.
“I was afraid when something happened to him, it would be thrown into a box and auctioned off for $5 and no one would appreciate all the work, the money and the talent he put into it,” Greer said.
Now, Greer will honor her cousin as well as other World War II servicemen and other veterans this upcoming weekend from 11 a.m to 3 p.m. Meals will be served from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the cost us $8 per person and $2 for dessert. Greer noted they will serve food until they run out.
A ‘Steel and Wheel’ parade will be held at 1 p.m. and there will be at least five area World War II servicemen present – Gene Long, Orville Lanier, RL Masoner, Harold Searcey and Alvan Kelley, who all live in Dearborn or Edgerton.
The parade will start at the city park and will follow a route throughout town, the only thing is Greer doesn’t know how many people will be part of the parade. There will be no cost to enter, just show up at the city park to register.
She has talked to car clubs throughout the area and some of them has expressed interest in taking part in the parade. The veterans will not be in the parade, rather watching, she said.
The groundwork for the parade started months ago and she approached the Dearborn board of aldermen about the thought in February.